


Monkey D Luffy: Queen of the Sea & the Sky

by TrafalgarDZed



Category: One Piece
Genre: Caring Dragon, DifferentDF!Luffy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, FemLuffy, Future LawLu, Humor, Implied/Referenced Torture, Strong!Luffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5374589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrafalgarDZed/pseuds/TrafalgarDZed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monkey D. Luffia is raised with the revolutionary's until a horrifying massacre occurs. Scared and lonely, Garp takes her in. However, even in East Blue, Luffy's still not completely safe. Sailing out at 17, she has a deadly hatred for the Celestial Dragons. What happened?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> This is the rewritten version. Will be updated either weekly or bi-weekly. 
> 
> I own nothing except the plot and OC's.
> 
> Also, please note that are needed for plot purposes or I wouldn't have added them.

The soft and dry wind of an unnamed Grand Line's island blew through the open window, filling the room with the sweet fragrance of blooming lilacs and ruffling a young woman's long black hair. She was sitting in the bed near the window, tightly pressing a newborn baby to her chest. Gol D. Lucy looked at baby, her baby, sleeping peacefully in her arms and smiled softly. "She's so cute.. Her name is Monkey D. Luffia."

The man standing next to the bed felt pride welling in his chest. Right at this moment he wasn't the Revolutionary Dragon, the Most Wanted Man in the World. He had just become a father! A father of the most adorable baby girl he had ever seen! Dragon nodded, unable to tear his eyes from his two most precious women in the world. "Yeah. Monkey D Luffy for a boy and Monkey D Luffia for a girl, just like we decided."

Lucy hugged Luffia loosely, and laughed lightly. "Luffia's adorable..!"

Dragon agreed, "Yes she is. She looks like you, why wouldn't she be?"

Lucy grinned cheekily. "Well, she has some attributes of you too, Dragon. Don't be upset!"

A small smile appeared on Dragon's face. "Very funny, Lucy." Noticing that his wife seemed to be tired and worn out, Dragon decided to leave. Placing a soft kiss on Lucy's and Luffia's cheeks he moved towards the door. "I'll leave you now. You need your rest." Lucy nodded tiredly, and then closed her eyes and fell asleep, arms protectively around her daughter.

* * *

Throughout the next couple of weeks, Dragon visited his wife and daughter regularly. Lucy's energy still hadn't returned, her body was still weak from childbirth. One commander, by the name Natsumi had been nursing her back to health and also helped look after the baby.

Lucy was in her's and Dragon's room which was quite large and decorated beautifully. A clear crystal chandelier hung in the middle of the white ceiling; next to the wooden double bed was a white cot that had been lined with a pale pink mattered and covers, and had few soft toys dangling on top. Luffia was sleeping silently in it, hugging close a blanket. A bookshelf sat in a corner of the room, filled with never ending books. Chest of drawers stood on the opposite corner, next to it was a tall wardrobe. Lucy smiled at her sleeping daughter and happily daydreamed about outfits that she could dress her in. She was silently interrupted by the click of the door, turning her head she saw Dragon walk towards her.

Smiling at his stressed and tired face, she raised an eyebrow. "Busy day?"

Dragon nodded before scrutinising her. "How are you? Are you feeling well? Is your- why are you grinning at me like that?"

Lucy laughed quietly, careful not to wake up the little baby. "It's so funny when you turn into your mother hen mode. I can't help but grin."

Dragon scowled playfully. "It's not me who complains about being tired."

Lucy grinned. "Of course it's not, it's written all over your face. You just don't like complaining aloud." Lucy grinned at his frown, he was so obviously wondering if he was that easy to read. "Anyways, I'm not that tired. Doc said that I'm recovering good. And Lu's a good baby, she doesn't wake up crying for no good reason in the middle of the night. Only when she's hungry or needs a nappy change. Though God is she always hungry. She's got our metabolisms, she won't stop drinking milk."

Dragon stared at her, "Your metabolism." He corrected.

Lucy looked at him with a disbelieving expression. "Uh, no. Our metabolisms. We both could eat the whole kitchens inside out, not just me. Don't even think about saying that, Dragon. You're just better at not being greedy."

Dragon sighed before he caught onto something she had said. "Aha you just indirectly said that _you're_ greedy!" He smirked.

Lucy frowned. "What?! No I didn't! I said 'you're just better at not being greedy,". Oh maybe…" She blushed, "Whatever."

Dragon grinned. "You're quick to let that one go aren't you? If I had indirectly or directly said that about myself you'd tell me every time we conversed."

Lucy turned her back on him, and faced the cot again only to coo in surprise. Luffia was wide awake, sucking her thumb and a smile visible on her lips. "Aww your so cute Luffia!"

Dragon smiled as he too stared at her, before suddenly sniffing the air. "Has she…?" He asked trailing off.

Lucy burst out laughing. "She's smiling all innocent but she's got a dirty nappy hidden. Dragon it's your turn to change her nappy!"

"Wait, what? No, it isn't!"

As the two bickered on, Luffia blinked her innocent silver eyes, a smile on her lips as she continued sucking on her small thumb.

* * *

_\- Half a year later -_

* * *

Months had flown by since Luffia had come into this world. She was now just over six months old. Luffia was wearing a simple pink dungarees and a soft white flower headband. She was in her own toy room, accompanied with two commanders. Lucy was training some new recruits, and Dragon was busy. One of the commander's was Natsumi. The other commander was male, his name, Keita. He had wavy brown hair and sharp cheekbones. Today was their turn to babysit.

Luffia looked up at Keita with her large eyes from where she was laying on the carpeted floor, and motioned to a toy that was out of her reach. Keita grinned at her. "You want the toy?"

Next to him, Natsumi sighed. "Just give her the toy, Keita. Don't make her cry like last time you babysitted."

Keita frowned at her. "Oi that wasn't my fault! Lu's just a little too sensitive. Isn't that right, Lu?" He asked Luffia, turning his attention back towards her.

"Ah!" She gurgled.

Keita gave his fellow commander a pointed look. "See, she understands!"

Picking up the toy and dangling it victoriously just above the reach of her small hands, Keita smirked. "Come on! Say, toy!"

"Ah-aah… Goo.." Luffia replied, her eyebrows slowly knitting together in a frown as she stared at the toy above her.

Natsumi nudged Keita. "Give it to her. She's got her frown on, she may burst out into tears any second now!"

Keita pouted but gave in and gently placed the small toy in her her small hands. "Fine, but next time for sure I'll force a word out of you Luffia!"

Luffia gurgled happily as she rattled the light toy, ignoring Keita completely. Natsumi laughed, her purple eyes twinkling. "Haha, you got ignored by a baby!"

Keita mock-scowled, but it quickly disappeared when the door of the room opened and Lucy entered, a bitten piece of meat in her hands. Her eyes brightened when she saw Luffy, and she ran up to her. Luffia dropped her toy and smiled. "Ah, m-m… m-ea! Meak!"

Lucy's mouth widened in shock, and she turned to the commanders, who looked just as shocked as her. Keita suddenly smirked. "It seems like Luffia has inherited your love of meat, Lucy-san."

"Mine and Dragon's love of meat." She quickly corrected before she turned back to Luffia, and picked her up, settling her comfortably on her hip. "What is this, Lu-Lu?" She asked showing her the piece of meat.

Luffia stared at the meat, a look of seriousness expressed on her face, which Natsumi laughed at. "M-meat.."

Lucy squealed in happiness, and twirled her silver-eyed girl around. "Aww you said your first word!"

Natsumi went closer to the excited mother, and smiled. "So, Luffia. Can you say anything else?" She questioned softly, as Lucy looked down at Luffia in a questioning manner. Keita appeared behind the trio all of a sudden, his quickness startling them. "Say toy? Now we know you can speak, so say toy."

Luffia stared at them, before stubbornly repeating. "Meeat." She stretched out the word as if proving a point.

Lucy laughed. "You want this meat?" She grinned while waving the piece of meat in her free hand.

Luffia clapped happily. "Meat!"

Lucy giggled as she ripped of a small piece of meat and placed it in her daughter's mouth. Luffia slowly chewed it and swallowed it. "Meat." She said again.

Lucy raised an eyebrow "No." She said, rolling her eyes at Luffia's petulant expression. "Nope." Luffia's bottom lip poked out and tears started forming in her eyes. "Oh you're such a drama queen." Luffia sniffled. "Yes you'll get more meat." Luffia's pout formed into a smile and she clapped happily.

Natsumi giggled as Keita smirked behind them, "You've got to admit, she played you good." Lucy kicked Keita's leg and smirked when he yelped in pain. She turned her attention back to Luffia.

"Ow that hurt."

Natsumi smacked him lightly, "Don't be such a baby Keita."

Keita glared back at her, before looking back at Lucy and Luffia.

Lucy frowned playfully at her, "First say please, then you'll get it."

"Meeat." Was the reply, as Luffia's eyes followed the meat on the bone.

"Say please."

"Meat."

There was a few sniffles. "Meat."

"..Please?"

A tear fell down Luffia's cheek. "M-meat."

Lucy hurriedly placed some meat in her mouth. "Happy now?" Lucy sighed. "She's so stubborn!" She complained, as she placed a little bit more in her mouth.

Keita grinned. "Well that's just like you and Dragon-san, then."

Natsumi nodded. "Yep, all three of you are just really stubborn and strong willed."

Lucy pouted. "I'm not _that_ bad!"

The two commanders just smirked at each other, knowing exactly how stubborn Lucy could be whenever she wanted something.

Lucy groaned at their faces. "Ok, I am a little stubborn." Looking at their disbelieving expressions, she let out, "Fine, I can be very stubborn whenever I want to."

Keita and Natsumi burst out into laughter.

Luffia grinned at her mother, meat stuck between her tiny teeth, no traces of tears.

Lucy sighed. "I lost against a 6 month old."

Natsumi patted her back comfortingly while trying to hold back a laugh. "It's okay Lucy-san, it's all over when Luffia brings out her puppy eyes."

"Is that meant to make me feel better?" Lucy asked while pouting.

Natsumi let out a giggle, _'Lucy-san acts like the same age as Luffia.'_

Keita picked up the happy child. "If it makes you feel better Lucy-san, then I'll let you know that Dragon-san would lose against Luffia too."

Lucy's depression vanished in an instant, replaced with childlike glee. "That did make me feel better." Then she stood up and took Luffia from Keita, "See you later!" She said as she quickly left the room.

Natsumi let out a sigh, "Her mood changes so quickly, it gives me whiplash."

"Well, seems like the little princess has inherited that gene."

Natsumi giggled, "Yeah definitely."

Lucy hastened to her husband's office, Luffia smiling on her hip. Lucy opened a door and calmly walked into the office like she hadn't just been running. Dragon looked up and rolled his eyes at his lover's calm demeanor. "You can stop the act, Lucy. I could hear your hurried footsteps as soon as you entered the corridor."

Lucy flushed sheepishly, Luffia waving at Dragon upon noticing him, "You're meant to pretend you didn't."

Dragon stared at her, "Right.." He stood up and took Luffia away from her. "What's the hurry?" He questioned as he wiped meat of Luffia's cheek.

Lucy brightened. "Aha!" She looked at Luffia, "Say it Lu-Lu!"

Luffia grinned but remained quiet. Dragon stared at his wife, "Say what? She hasn't started talking, has she?"

Lucy sighed impatiently at her mini look alike. "Come on Lu, say it!"

Dragon stared at Luffia curiously, but she remained silent. She glanced between both adults before opening her mouth.

Lucy squealed, "She's gonna say it."

Lucy grinned and "Blergh," was the sound that came out of her mouth.

But not the only thing that came out of her, Dragon glared at both his wife and daughter before staring at his vomit covered arm. "Lucy…"

Lucy winced and she quickly grabbed Luffia back. Luffia grinned as vomit dribbled down her chin and onto her clothes. Lucy found Dragon's expression of disgust hilarious and before she could stop it she started laughing. "Oh gosh I'm sorry, but you look absolutely hilarious right now."

Dragon shuddered as he felt the wetness sink into his clothes and onto his skin. "I'm going to shower and change." He informed the two as he headed towards the door and left the room but not before giving his wife another light glare.

Lucy giggled helplessly as he left the room, holding his arm in front of him, then glanced at Luffia. "Let's get you cleaned up then."

As Dragon left the corridor he heard a loud voice call out "Meat. Meeat!"

That's what Lucy wanted to show him then.

' _Not really a surprise that Luffia's first word was 'meat'.'_ He thought as his frown was replaced with a soft smile

* * *

_\- 5 months later -_

* * *

Luffia laughed happily as a redheaded female tickled her. "Top it!" she shouted as giggles escaped her open mouth.

Fiery hair was messily flying around the older woman as the female commander tickled her charge. Rei grinned at how Luffia slaughtered her words, and she let go of the ten months old girl and let her regain her breath. "Had fun, Lu?"

Luffia smiled, "Yep!" As she climbed to her legs and leaned against a chair. Then she turned her head, eyes focusing on the other Commander in the room and grinned at him. "Tak-shi!"

The male commander looked up from the book he was reading, "Yes Luffia?"

"Pick up?" She asked sweetly.

'Tak-shi' nodded, he was his usual unemotional self as he put his book down on a nearby table and held his hands out waiting for Luffia to drop to her knees and crawl to him.

Luffia on the other hand had a different idea. She was standing against a chair and with a stubborn, determined expression, she let go of the chair and took a shaky step forward. Sitting next to her, Rei gasped in shock nearly bursting with surprise whilst 'Tak-shi' merely raised an eyebrow approvingly. Luffia grinned and took another. Rei grinned, "You can walk, Lu! Look Takeshi, we're the first ones to see Lu take her first steps!"

"Me wak!" Luffia boasted happily.

Takeshi stared at Rei as if she was an idiot. "What difference does it make?"

Rei fell in a slump, "Way to kill the mood, Takeshi."

Luffia was about to take another step, when the door burst open startling Luffia and making her fall on her butt with a small thud.

Lucy stepped into the room with a large grin which slowly faded as she took in the mood of the room. Rei was slouched depressingly against the leg of a chair, Takeshi was calmly sitting on another whilst staring at Luffia. Lucy's grin reappeared when she spotted her daughter's grinning face. "Hey, Lu-Lu!"

Luffia giggled, "Mama!" Lucy walked to her side, a spring in her steps, and picked her up.

Rei suddenly brightened, Lucy would be excited to know this unlike a certain someone. "Lucy-san! Guess what?"

Lucy looked at her. "Hm, what?" She asked distractedly as she combed through Luffia's hair with her fingers.

"Lu took her first steps!"

That got Lucy's attention. "Wait, what? Really?" At Rei's eager nod, she then frowned depressingly as Takeshi looked on with a confused expression. Wasn't a mother supposed to be happy when a child starts walking?

Lucy glared at him playfully. "You and Dragon are so easy to read, Takeshi."

"Tak-shi! Tak-shi!" Luffia imitated like a parrot.

Lucy continued on, ignoring the interruption, "I'm not upset that she's started walking but I'm sad that I never got to see her first step. I wasn't even there when she first crawled." She told them, a gloomy aura surrounding her.

Rei laughed as she stood up and stretched her back, bones popping noisily. "Yes, yes Lucy-san we understand. Anyway why don't you put Lu on the floor so she can walk some more."

Luffia squealed as she was let down from Lucy's hands and placed on her own feet. Lucy hovered around her, scared she'd fall. Luffia grinned and shakily stepped forward towards her mother, whilst Lucy took a step back. Luffia laughed in happiness, as she unsteadily walked further.

Next to them, Rei whistled in approval, "Lu-chan's a little fast learner, ain't she Takeshi?"

"Hn."

Rei rolled her eyes, before noticing someone at the door. "Hey, Dragon-san!" Next to her, Takeshi straightened.

Lucy turned to look at her husband, and grinned at him, "Dragon! Look at Lu!"

Dragon nodded at her as he stepped into the room, "She's started walking then." He beckoned Luffia closer. "Come, Luffia."

Luffia giggled as she wobbled closer to Dragon, before suddenly falling on her bottom.

Rei raised an eyebrow, as Lucy picked up the teary toddler. "Why'd she suddenly fall on her butt?"

"She's never walked before, so her legs are tired." Takeshi monotonously informed her.

Lucy hugged Luffia closer to her as she walked out of the room, dragging Dragon with her. "We'll be putting Lu-Lu to rest!"

Rei let out a laugh. "Aaand there they go!"

Takeshi ignored her, picked up his book and carried on reading.

* * *

_\- A year and a half later -_

* * *

"Can you tell me about Uncle Roger?" Two and a half year old Luffia asked one night in bed, Dragon had gone on a mission and wouldn't be back for another few days, so Luffia was sleeping in her Mama's bed.

Lucy nodded. "What do you want to know about him, Lu?"

"What was he like?" She asked.

"Roger was a kind, jolly man. He loved his crew and cared about them more than anything."

"Crew?" Luffia echoed.

"Yep, he was a pirate. Pirate King, in fact."

"He was king of the pirates?"

"Mhm, some people respected him. Some despised him. But his crew loved him and that's what mattered to him."

"What does despise mean?"

"Hate. It means that some people hated him. And some still do."

"What does being pirate king mean?"

Lucy thought about it for a few seconds before replying. "Well, some people say that it's all about being the king of the seas and ruling the seas and such. However to my brother, it was being the freest man alive."

"Oh. What was Uncle Roger's crew like?"

"They were all nice, kind and funny. Today, pirates are all mean and hurt people for fun, but Roger's crew and some other pirates sailed the seas for freedom and adventure." Lucy sighed. "Roger's crew were a weird bunch. But they all cared for each other. The perverted first mate was annoying." Lucy glared at nothing in particular. "But he was loyal. He also wore glasses and had a funny beard. He's still alive."

"Why do you seem annoyed when talking about the first mate?" Luffia asked innocently.

Lucy huffed. "Cause he's an annoying pervert," is all Lucy said about him. "There were also the cabin boys." She told Luffia, changing the subject. "Two of them. One was a redhead wore a straw hat my brother had given him. He also always wanted to drink alcohol, but wasn't ever allowed to, too young is what that doctor had said. 'Gonna die before he even reaches adulthood.'" Lucy mimicked, "I'd always secretly pass him some whenever I'd go, made him owe me loads of favours." Lucy looked over at Luffia wondering if she was still awake, and was a little surprised to see Luffia staring at her, hanging onto her every word, Lucy smiled softly. "The other cabin boy was a bluehead clown."

"Bluehead clown?" Luffia echoed.

Lucy nodded, "Your uncle drew in the weirdest, but yes, a natural blue head with a natural red clown nose. He was a scaredy cat."

Luffia giggled and Lucy ruffled her hair.

"There was also the doctor I was talking about, he was a temporary crew member towards the end of their journey but I know that all of them thought of him as part of the crew. He's still alive, and he was a strict weirdo. If you ever see him you'll notice him. He's a flower."

"What? He's a flower?"

"Well not quite, but you'll understand if you ever see him."

There was silence for a few minutes while Lucy reminisced on past memories and Luffia thought about her decision.

Luffia finally laughed, "Shishishi!"

"Hm?"

"I've decided! I'm gonna be the next pirate king! And I'm gonna become the freest person alive!" Luffia stated, and gave a bright wide grin.

Lucy smiled softly. "If that's what you want, Lu-Lu. But, Lu listen, if you ever sail out-"

"I will!"

"When you sail out," Lucy corrected, "then be careful. Get strong crewmates who have your back and you lot all trust each other. Alright?"

"Yes, Mama. Night, night."

"...Night."

It must have been an hour later when Lucy whispered into the dark. "And… don't do anything too stupid, Lu. Stay strong and safe."

* * *

_\- Nearly four years -_

* * *

"OK, Luffia place your hand a little back. Yep just like that! And put your left foot a little forward. There we go! Now punch with all your might!"

Luffia nodded tensing her fist and punched the training doll with all her strength. Lucy stared at the deformed training doll and then burst out laughing. "That's my girl!" She crowed proudly.

Luffia stared at her mother, "That was good then?" She asked as she touched the small fist shaped in the plastic training doll.

"Good?" Lucy asked rhetorically, "That was fantastic!"

Luffia scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I want meat!"

Lucy raised an eyebrow as she looked down at Luffia, displeased. "Hm? What did you forget to say?"

Luffia stared at her mother, eyes filled with confusion. "What are you talking about, Mama?" She asked before her eyes suddenly widened in realisation. "Oh! Please?"

Lucy let out a chuckle, ruffling Luffia's soft locks, "Even after all this time, you still can't say please properly. Guess I'll just have to keep reminding you. Right?"

"Uh-huh!"

Lucy left the training room and headed towards the dining room, Luffia following her like a tail. "So Luffia, if you're in a fight where would you hit your opponent and why?" As she turned left into a long corridor.

Luffia frowned. "Male or female?"

"Both."

Luffia nodded, "Well for a male I would kick him in the groin cause-"

"Well, I guess I know who I won't be getting in a fight with." A voice interrupted from the end of the corridor.

Luffia's eyes brightened at hearing the familiar voice, and she ran towards the tall figure and jumped in his awaiting arms. "Keita-san! You're back!"

Keita nodded while taking of his cape hood with his free arm. "That's right, princess. I just arrived, I was heading to Dragon-san's office." He nodded at Lucy and she smiled back at him.

Luffia pouted as she climbed his body and sat on his shoulders. "I'm no princess! I'm going to be king! The Pirate King!"

Keita looked up at her and stared for a few seconds before grinning and pinching her button nose. "Still just a midget princess in my eyes, princess."

"Not a midget or a princess! I'm gonna grow super tall, you'll see! Taller than Mama and Natsumi-san and Rei-san! I'm gonna be the tallest! And I'm not gonna be a pirate princess! I'm gonna be the pirate king, just like Uncle Roger!"

"Right, course you are." Keita agreed as he followed Lucy into the dining hall, abandoning his mission of reporting to the revolutionary leader.

Luffia blew a raspberry, but suddenly stiffened. Keita stared at her as she climbed of him. "What is it?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was up with her.

Luffia sniffed the air, "I…"

Keita went closer, curious as to what was up with her.

"I smell meat!" She cheered as she hurried to the food bar.

Keita sighed. "She's like a drug addict, but with meat."

Lucy chuckled. "She definitely is. I'm gonna go keep an eye on her, are you going to report to Dragon or eat?"

"I'm going to report. I'll see you soon." He told her as he walked out of the dining hall.

Lucy nodded at his back before turning back to find her daughter about to leave the bar with a heaping pile of meat. She quickly ran towards her and grabbed the plate.

"Mama!" Luffia complained, "I was gonna eat that."

"That's the problem." Lucy replied as she replaced some of the meat with vegetables and rice, and gave the plate back to Luffia.

Luffia glared at the vegetables, but shivered when she felt an evil pressure on her. She looked up slowly and saw her mother glaring at her with an evil smirk. "Eat or I'll take all the meat."

Luffia yelped and quickly ran to an empty table and started eating. Lucy giggled, it was so fun scaring her.

* * *

_\- A few days later -_

* * *

Luffia stared enviously at her own hair as she stared at it through a mirror. "When are you going to teach me how to braid hair like you, Natsumi-san?"

"I am?" Natsumi asked, pretending to look confused.

"Natsuuumi-san!"

Natsumi chuckled. "Right, right. Maybe one day. I've already taught you how to do the simple braids, Luffia."

Luffia grinned. "Thanks for teaching me how to do simple braids, Natsumi-san!"

Natsumi dramatically gasped. "Huh! Where did the sudden manners come from?"

Luffia was about to scratch her head, but remembered the beautiful flower braid in it and scratched her cheek sheepishly instead. "Mama's been drilling it in my head. Anyway why did you randomly do nice hair on me Natsumi-san? And why am I wearing a dress? I hate them! I like my top and jeans!"

Natsumi raised an eyebrow, _'Lucy-san was right, she really doesn't know. So oblivious.'_ Aloud she said, "Is it wrong for me to do it, and to dress you up?" She asked making herself look upset.

Luffia shook her head hurriedly. "No, no not at all Natsumi-san!"

Natsumi grinned. "There's no problem then."

"I guess not." Luffia replied hesitantly.

"Come with me, I want to show you something." Natsumi said, holding out a hand to Luffia as she opened the door. Luffia grabbed her hand and they both left the room.

Natsumi led her to the closed dining hall. Luffia raised her hands and frantically moved away from the door. "Uh, Natsumi-san, thanks but I think I'm gonna go!" She exclaimed and turned around, and was about to run off.

Before she could, Natsumi grabbed her by her shoulder, "Why's that? You love food?" Natsumi asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, already knowing why she didn't want to go in.

Luffia shivered, "Mama said not to go in the dining hall in any circumstances, and she gave her evil look." Luffia looked around as if to make sure no one was around and stepped closer to Natsumi. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but Mama's real scary."

"I'm what now?"

"Eep!" Luffia squealed, and turned around slowly to see the dining hall door open and her mother's head poking out. "Uh, I was just telling Natsumi-san how nice you are Mama."

Natsumi chuckled.

"I'm sure you were, sweetie." Lucy replied smiling. "But wow you look cute in a dress, just like a princess."

Luffia stiffened. "I'm not cute or a princess! I've told you, Mama! I'm gonna be king! And I'm strong and scary, not _cute_." Luffy made a disgusted face.

The door opened more, and Rei popped out. "No, you're not cute." Luffy brightened, glad someone was finally on her side. "You're adorable! Oh my gosh you look so sweet! Keita come and take a picture of her!"

Before Luffia could do anything there was a click, and Keita grinning holding a snail in his hand.

"Hey! Don't take a picture of me like this! Don't take pictures of me at all actually!" She complained frowning, her face scrunching up adorably.

Lucy walked out of the dining room and pinched her nose. "Like I said, so cute."

Luffia didn't reply instead looking inside the room. There were decorations everywhere, and a banner _'Happy Birthday'_ written across it. She looked at the commanders and her mother, "Huh? Whose birthday is it?"

Lucy laughed and walked back in the room, Natsumi and Luffia following her, "You're my cute idiot."

"Eh? I'm not an idiot!"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Right, well then tell me whose birthday is it."

"That'll be easy, I just need to see who's wearing birthday clothes!" Luffia grinned, as she looked around and her eyes glanced at everyone in the dining hall, everybody was staring at her and not at a birthday person. Slowly her grin turned into a confused frown. She looked at her mother and Keita who were trying to hold in their laughter, and Rei who grinned at her. Suddenly she looked down at herself, she eyed her dress and fingered her braid thoughtfully. Her eyes widened in realisation, "Eh?! It's ME?!"

Rei, Lucy and Keita burst out laughing, whilst Natsumi let out a sigh but she was smiling too.

"Give the girl a medal." A sarcastic voice said from behind her.

Luffia turned around and grinned, "Kiyoshi-san! You're back too! The only commander missing is Takeshi-san, but he's most probably with Papa!" Luffia exclaimed, the sarcasm flying right over her oblivious head.

Kiyoshi snickered, "He's always with Dragon-san, stuck like gum on his shoe."

"I am not stuck to him like him, I actually help instead of bothering him with complaints." A monotone voice replied.

Luffia looked behind the two commanders and grinned, "Hey, Papa! Hey, Takeshi-san."

Dragon walked between Kiyoshi and Luffia, nodding at his daughter, "Hello, Luffia."

"Oh, I'm the one bothering Dragon-san? Really? Let's ask Dragon-san himself, you who sticks to him like a lost puppy or me who leaves him alone until mission time." Kiyoshi suggested, blue eyes flashing in anger.

"And when mission time comes, you won't keep your trap shut." Takeshi replied easily, walking past Kiyoshi, and passing a small gift into Luffia's hands. "Happy birthday Luffia." He congratulated.

Natsumi glanced between them and giggled, it was always so fun watching how Kiyoshi opened up Takeshi, something no other commander could do, with the rest Takeshi was a silent brooder.

Kiyoshi turned to Dragon, "Hey Dragon-san! Who annoys you more?"

Dragon turned his back on Kiyoshi, ignoring both bickering commanders, and walked to his wife.

"You're annoying Dragon-san right this moment, like per usual."

"You annoying basta-!"

Kiyoshi winced when Lucy suddenly pinched his arm. Hard. "Remember what I said about swearing in front of my daughter?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry Lucy-san... Can you let go of me now?" He asked as he glanced at her tight hold on his arm.

Lucy let go of him, and rolled her eyes at both arguing commanders. Luffia looked at both and then asked aloud, "Why do they always fight whenever they're together?"

Keita smirked. "Unresolved sexual tension."

"What's that?" Luffia asked innocently.

Keita gulped as he looked around and saw Lucy-san and Dragon-san glaring at him looking ready to kill him, and Takeshi and Kiyoshi who looked like they were both more than happy to murder him, and Rei who smirked at him. When Rei was smirking at him like that, he just knew he was going to be killed and she was not going to save him. No, she was looking forward to the show. "Uh, I mean they're not always on the best of terms, princess."

Luckily his 'princess' comment distracted Luffia. "Hey! I've already told you I'm not a princess! Princesses are damsels! Damsels are always in distress! That means they're weak. I'm strong so that means I'm no princess!"

Keita sweat dropped, "You've really thought about this whole princess thing haven't you? Well sorry to burst your bubble, _princess_ but look at what you're wearing."

Luffia flushed when she noticed her red dress, she had totally forgotten about it. "Th-this isn't my fault, mama and Natsumi-san made me wear it." Luffia whined with a pout. "Anyway!" She exclaimed changing the subject, "Kiyoshi-san may I look through your tattoo book please?" Luffia asked politely.

Kiyoshi raised an eyebrow, "I've only been gone for half a year, where did her manners suddenly come from?"

Lucy grinned. "I've been teaching her."

Luffia gestured for Kiyoshi to lower his head and when he did Luffia whispered in his ear. He let out a chuckle, "I know kiddo. How do you think she keeps us all in check?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the two: Luffia yelped but Kiyoshi just smirked at her. "We were just talking about great and strong you are, Lucy-san."

Lucy glanced over at Luffia and grinned at her daughter's evading eyes and extremely forced calmness, she rolled her eyes fondly. "Sure, whatever you say." She pretended not to notice Luffia's sigh of relief, she turned around and walked over to the biggest and emptiest table in the hall smiling at the revolutionaries as she walked by. The others followed her, and she grinned when she heard Kiyoshi and Luffia's conversation.

"You're a terrible liar, Luffia."

"Am not, don't make lies up Kiyoshi-san!"

"I am not lying, brat, and when I do at least I'm not a terrible one!"

"What?!"

"King's know how to lie, princesses don't!"

"Yes I do!"

Then Lucy heard Luffia step away.

And a few seconds later, "Hey, Keita-san can you teach me how to lie?"

Kiyoshi and Keita burst out laughing and Lucy could just imagine the half embarrassed half angry expression on her daughter's face. "Shut up baka Kiyoshi!"

Lucy turned around hiding her grin, "Right, that's enough. Luffia mind your language and sit down, the rest of you too."

Luffia pouted but sat down, settling Takeshi's wrapped gift in front of her, however her pout disappeared as soon as she saw what was on the table. "Soo much meat and food!" She drooled, hearts in her eyes.

Natsumi passed her a handkerchief, "Stop drooling everywhere Luffia."

Luffia wiped her mouth and quickly grabbed a plate and started filling her plate to the brim, everyone looked at her in amusement watching her freely choose her food. Which meant no vegetables.

Lucy laughed but let her do whatever she wanted. Birthdays only come once a year after all.

* * *

After dinner and cake, which was shaped like a pirate ship, something Luffia found totally amazing and cool, they had settled down in a room that had all of their presents in it. Luffia grinned when noticing them and now she was excitedly rocking on a chair waiting for her first present. Keita grabbed his present from the pile and passed it to her.

Luffia stared at the gift and then back at the commander. "Can I open it now?"

"Course you can, princess."

Luffia growled at the nickname, but let it go this time and opened her present instead. "Oooh! Thanks Keita-san!" She thanked, eyeing the blank leather journal.

"Your welcome, princess."

Luffia pouted, "Stop calling me that, Keita-baka."

Keita smirked and opened his mouth to reply, but was shoved aside by Rei and Natsumi, "Hey!"

Rei ignored him and passed her a small box; Natsumi doing the same. Luffia carefully opened the presents, and stared at them. "What's that?" She asked Rei.

Rei's green eyes twinkled, "That's a necklace, Lu. You put it around your neck. And there's matching studs."

"Really? It says my name on it, and it's heart shaped."

"Yep, cause I got the owner to engrave your name on it. Take a look at the back."

"Oh! It says _Love, Rei_ on the back!"

"Yep, shall I put it on you?"

"Mhm, can you put the earrings on to?"

"Of course, princess."

Luffia oohed and aahed for the next half and an hour, staring gleefully at all her presents. Takeshi had given her 6 training knives, Kiyoshi had given her a set of 14 colouring pencils, Natsumi, had gifted her with 3 beautiful hair ties. One red, another orange and the last blue. Lucy gave Luffia a (slightly big) charm bracelet that had a few charms on it, a cape, a sword and a tiara.

"Mama, it's meant to be a crown not a tiara!" She had complained when she noticed it.

Dragon smiled at her whilst Keita snickered, "Luffia, Kuma had left this with me the last time he visited. It's his present for you."

"Kuma-jii-san?" Luffia asked excitedly.

"Yes, your godfather had said he wouldn't be here for your birthday so he left it in advance."

"Oh! What is it?"

Dragon handed her a book. "Oh look Papa, it's more ways to win in a fight!"

Dragon nodded, "Very nice. My present is your tattoo. Me and Lucy have decided that you're allowed it if you want it." Luffia had wanted the revolutionary's tattoo since she had first seen it a couple years back. The tattoo was a black and red japanese dragon, and every revolutionary had one.

Luffia stared at him with starry eyes. "Really? Yay! I want it! Can Kiyoshi-san do it for me now?"

"If he's free and able to, then yes." Dragon answered.

Luffia turned to Kiyoshi and before she could ask anything, the silver haired commander nodded, "Follow me." He told her as he walked out of the room.

Luffia jumped of her chair and waved to the rest of the commanders and her parents and ran to follow Kiyoshi. "Bye guys!"

Natsumi smiled, "She's such a happy ball of energy."

* * *

Kiyoshi looked at her, impressed. She hadn't cried at all while he was doing the tattoo, only let loose a few whimpers, she seemed more distracted by his book of designs. He finished bandaging up the sore, raw tattoo and smiled at her. "You can handle pain pretty well, if I do say so. You're not such a princess after all."

Luffia grinned up at him. "Tell that to Keita!"

Kiyoshi patted her head, "Keita doesn't call you princess because you're weak, none of us do. We call you princess, more cause uh…" He trailed off.

Luffia stared curiously, waiting for him to finish.

"Well the nickname has grown on us, just like you have." He grinned at her.

"So it's not cause I'm weak?"

"Not at all. You're the daughter of our leader, Lu, and so when Keita started calling you princess it kind of stuck."

Luffia laughed, "Oh, if that's the only reason, then that's fine!"

Kiyoshi turned around and grabbed something from a shelf, and passed it to her, "Remember to put this cream on it in two days and don't sleep on that arm, also you're not allowed to bathe at all today or tomorrow. Oh and you can't train for the next week." He informed, then nodded to himself, "Yeah that's about it."

Luffia nodded slowly, "Uh, sure. Thanks Kiyoshi-san!" She grinned at him brightly.

Kiyoshi smiled back. "No problem."

* * *

_\- Three weeks -_

* * *

Kiyoshi had left the island a couple of weeks ago on a solo mission. Keita and Natsumi had left a few days ago, and wouldn't be back for a month. And Dragon and Takeshi had left the day before, and should be back in a week. On the island the only Commander left was Rei, and there was also Lucy.

Now Luffia and Lucy were in Dragon's office, Lucy was looking through paperwork and Luffia was drawing on the floor. Lucy looked over the desk at her journal, "You enjoying yourself?"

"Yep! I really like this journal, the pages don't rip accidentally like my last book." Luffia lifted it up in the air, grinning.

Lucy stared at the drawing, she had always been impressed at how much of a good artist Luffia was. Today she had drawn Kiyoshi's tattoo room and had managed to draw as many details as possible. "Very nice, Lu-Lu." She complimented with a smile.

Luffia returned the smile, and returned to drawing. The door suddenly barged open and a fear-filled revolutionary ran straight to the desk Lucy was sitting on, "Lucy-san!"

Lucy stiffened, "What is it? Tell me immediately."

The man took a deep breath, "We have spotted over eight extremely large marine battle ships coming at us from all angles. There could be more! What do we do?!"

Lucy paled, "Eight battleships or more? Could it be…?" She punched the desk in front of her, making both her daughter and the man jump. "Crap!"

She stared at the revolutionary with the utmost seriousness, "Tell every revolutionary on the island to get prepared to fight! The marines are here to destroy us, while Dragon and our commanders are out!"

The man nodded, then ran out of the office. Lucy swore, "Dammit!" She grabbed a den den mushi and called.

_Puru-puru-puru-puru-gatcha_

"Yes?" The voice came from the snail.

"Dragon! There- There's been a buster call issued! Eight ships have been spotted surrounding the island! How long would it take for you to get back?!"

"Are you sure?"

"As I said eight or more extremely large battle ships! How long?"

"It'd take around seven hours for me to get back! Here's what you are to do, listen closely!" Dragon shouted through the snail.

Lucy took a deep breath, "I'm listening."

"Okay, now first…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read & review!


	2. Death

Luffia paced across the dim room. Her mother had abandoned her in this underground hideout by herself, and left but not before making her promise that she wouldn't try and escape under any circumstances. Luffia had nodded nervously, not knowing what was going on but she knew that her mother was stressed and very busy. As she walked back and forth she wondered what a buster call was. Mama had said that a buster call had been issued, comparing that to the fact that there were marine battleships surrounding the island it was not a good thing. Luffia placed her head against the metal door, and her ears strained, trying to listen to what was happening in the outside.

It was all quiet, she couldn't hear anything. This underground hideout was really far down, Luffia had never even seen it before. Suddenly there were deafeningly loud gunshots and she jumped away from the door. No, those weren't gunshots they were canons. Canons were going off, that means everybody was in danger. Why was she the only one hidden, shouldn't they be hiding too?

Luffia looked around in the dark room and noticed some chests in a corner. She walked towards them and cautiously opened one. She stared at the item inside it, her brows furrowing in confusion. She picked up the fruit that was sitting inside, and felt and traced it with her hands, too dark to see it clearly. There were small swirls covering the odd shaped fruit. Luffia held it closer to her nose but no odor came from it. Maybe it was emergency food?

Luffia bought it close to her mouth and took a bite from it and as she slowly chewed it, her face gradually soured. She swallowed it and then coughed on the remaining gross and bitter taste roaming in her mouth. She couldn't believe she actually managed to swallow a whole bite of it, it was gross. She flung it back in the box, and curiously looked through the other boxes. There wasn't anything interesting in them a first aid kit and some weapons.

Luffia flinched when she heard screams from above. She needed to do something, even if Mama had said not to. People were hurt! She stared at the metal door in front of her, the only escape route which was locked from the outside and tensed herself. Luffia fisted her hands, and placed her body in the position her mama had taught her, and then she started to viciously punch the door.

Again and again and again, Luffia continued trying to break the stubborn door down, but not once did it budge. It felt like hours later when she fell to her knees hopelessly, when in reality it had only been around ten minutes. She glanced between her bruised and bloodied knuckles and the strong door. It hadn't moved even a millimeter. She leaned her head against it, holding in tears. She wasn't going to cry, she was brave! Strong! She couldn't cry, not now, not when everyone was in danger.

Luffia could feel a single tear trail down her cheek and she hurriedly wiped it, wincing when she felt her raw bloody knuckles smear blood over her face. but then she heard something that made her hair stand at attention. Her Mama's scream.

It was faint and far away but unmistakably her mother's voice. She jumped up and started shoving against the sturdy door trying hard to get out. "Let me.. out!" Luffia screamed as she kicked the silver door. "Someone! Anyone!" Luffia sobbed, as she tried shoving it with her shoulders. "Mama's in trouble! I need to help her!" But the door still wouldn't give way, and Luffia fell to the floor once again but this time she fell from lack of strength and dizziness. She wanted, no, needed to get back up and help her mother. The last thought on the young girl's mind as the room blurred around her was ' _I need to help Mama!'_ and then her eyes closed and her mind succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

 

Luffia didn't know how much time had passed when her eyes flickered open to the sound of footsteps. She groggily rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up. Her head was pounding, she was surprised that she could even hear footsteps. Now that she thought about it though, where were the footsteps coming from? She searched the room but found no one around, it was just as empty as it had been when she had passed out. She strained her ears and caught the sound coming from outside the metal door. She ran to the door, and with baited breath she listened. The girl's silver eyes widened when she realised she could hear lot more than normal, she could hear people breathing, and gasps of what sounded like pain. She flinched when she heard keys, the noise astonishingly loud. After she heard locks click free, the heavy door creaked open noisily.

She stepped back, letting the door open fully and two figures stumbled in. Luffia gasped, and held a hand to her mouth in fear and panic. "Mama…" She whispered out.

Lucy was holding onto Rei, her clothes full of holes and cuts matted with dirt and blood, and she was leaking blood like a fountain. Rei, herself had a bloody leg, but Luffy didn't seem to notice her gaze strictly focused on her Mama. They wobbled into the hideout and Rei carefully lay Lucy on the ground, she looked up at Luffia with troubled, panicking eyes, "Close the door Luffia, and fetch me the first aid kit in those boxes."

Luffia mechanically done as told, staring at her mother's bloody body in shock. Rei grabbed the box from Luffia's hands and hurriedly opened it. Lucy coughed, blood dribbling down her chin. "Rei… stop…"

Rei ignored the woman and carried on grabbing items out of the plastic box.

Lucy coughed again, and then motioned for Luffia to come closer. Luffia stepped forward and then lowered herself next to her injured mother. "Mama.."

Lucy grabbed Luffia's hand and gripped it tightly, she choked again spitting out blood. "Rei… I'm not… going to last…"

Rei glared at Lucy as she got bandages and then stared at Lucy's body. "Where do I start?" She muttered weakly glancing between the gunshot wounds and all the stab wounds.

Lucy let out a half sob half chuckle, "Rei… It's too late. I've… lost too much blood." She said as her grip unconsciously tightened on Luffia's hand.

Tears freely fell down Luffia's face whilst Rei started bandaging one of the many injuries. "It's never too late," Rei murmured stubbornly as she hopelessly tried to stop the bleeding. "Damn those marines! I want to go and kill their stuck up selves." She tied one wound tightly and then forlornly looked at the blood oozing out of wounds, painting all three of them with red.

Lucy coughed hoarsely, "I can feel my body… give out…Rei.. Lu...Lu-"

"NO!"

Both Rei and Lucy started at the sudden shout, staring at the fuming teary six year old. Luffia shook her head repeatedly, "No!" She repeated. "You can't die, Mama! You can't leave me and Papa! You have to live!"

Tears slowly started following out of Lucy's eyes, and Luffia's eyes followed a single tear, slowly trail down her mother's ear and land on the hard ground with a small 'plop'. Lucy opened her mouth to talk but wheezed instead, her dirt and blood matted faced screwed up in pain. She took deep breaths and then tried again. "I'm sorry, Lu-Lu…"

' _Mama's eyes are dimming. they are growing darker.'_ Luffy realised suddenly, with a low gasp. She forced herself to concentrate on what she was saying.

"Take care, Lu.." _'No, no, no! This can't be happening!'_ "I regret not being there for you… when you… fulfill your dream…" _'No! Mama can't die!'_ "Become pirate… king Monkey… D. Luff...ia…."

"NO! Mama don't leave me!"

Lucy smiled, and with the last bit of her strength she forced herself to raise her arm and she ruffled Luffia's hair.

Luffia stared at her mother's falling hand and she grabbed it, hugging it close to her chest. She turned to Rei, "Rei-san! Do something! You have to save her! You have to save Mama! Do something, Rei!" She screamed in a frenzy.

Rei stared back with a broken look, "I-I'm sorry. It's too late..." The red-headed commander stared at Lucy's still chest, the smile settled on her lips, ( _she looked like she was in peace, like she wasn't lying in a pool of her own blood, like she hadn't just died, like she hadn't just left behind a heartbroken daughter, a widowed husband and a revolutionary army who would mourn her... and Rei herself, who would never ever forgive herself for not saving her, for not getting there soon enough)_ at the blood surrounding them at Luffia's ( _sweet small Lu, who didn't deserve this, didn't deserve to watch her mother die! Who didn't deserve to have a dead mother at such a young vulnerable age! Why was the world so unfair? Why?!_ ) own broken face, her face dancing with emotions that she didn't _deserve_ to have at such a young age. Panic, despair, loss, worry, anguish, distress, and that small, _tiny_ sliver of hope that maybe, just _maybe_ Rei-san would be able heal her mother, would be able to make her wake up. That everything would be alright again. She was going to have to break it to Luffia ( _Luffia who deserved all the happiness, joy, pleasure, delight and glee and everything good in the world_ ) that her mother was dead. That she was _dead!_ Rei couldn't save her! If only she had gotten there sooner, if only she had beaten that vice admiral faster, if only she could have saved Lucy. _If only!_ Rei was brought back to reality by Luffia's ( _Luffia who had just a happy sixth birthday, Luffia who had gotten scolded for stealing meat only hours before)_ agonising heartbroken wails.

Rei looked down, her eyes screwing shut, not letting her own tears out her own sobs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." There was a loud roar and Rei looked up and then stared. Just gaped. What was that? Why was it where Luffia had just been? She stood up, her body back in fight mode, ready to attack the creature. ( _what was it? A dragon?_ ) But as she gawked she came to the sudden realisation that the creature, the dragon, wasn't attacking anyone. It was… crying. On Lucy's body. Just as Luffia had been before. Oh. _Oh._

The commander collapsed to her knees weakly, letting herself relax just a tiny bit, knowing that they weren't in immediate danger. She stared at the dragon ( _Luffia, her mind supplied helpfully)_ in front of her, studying her trying to distract herself. Her dragon form was light blue in overall colour, but the underside of the wings and her chest and belly were a darker shade of blue. On her head were icicle type horns, straight with spikes. Her tail was just as scaly as the rest of her, but spikes aligned it. She glanced at the body it was mourning and she felt tears running down her own cheeks. Rei let out a small tired sigh as she stared at the tiny wailing dragon. And then the dragon's eyes closed and its (she needed to stop thinking of Luffia as it) body slumped forward and fell unconscious.

Rei closed her eyes for just a few seconds wishing beyond everything that when she opened her eyes it'd all be just a nightmare. And when she did reopen her eyes it was to the same image. Lucy-san was dead on the floor and dragon-Lu was knocked out on top of her. She had to stay strong, now was not the time for her to break down. Rei stood up shakily, and gingerly picked up dragon-Luffia. She placed her in the furthest corner of the hideout, the furthest away from Lucy. Rei clutched her head from a sudden dizziness as she walked back to Lucy. She collapsed to her knees next to the deceased woman. She felt her eyes water again as she stared at her peaceful face. ( _I'm sorry!_ Her mind screamed, _If only I had gotten there sooner, I would have rather it be me than you. Luffia's gone and eaten a devil fruit and you should be here! You need to be here!_ ) Rei took a deep breath calming herself, a few stray tears slipping loose from her eyes. She took of her heavy cape, all the commanders had one. It was black as the night and it protected them from harsh weather conditions and also concealed them from anyone, because it was full body length with a hood. She gently placed it on her dead mentor, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me! I wish I could have gotten there faster… But.. thank you for everything, thank you for teaching me and Natsumi all we know, thank you for being there, thank you for helping us, thank you for keeping all of us in check. Thank you… for everything, and I'm truly… deeply sorry that I couldn't have saved you."

Rei stumbled back next to Luffia and lay next to her, she placed one hand on top of the scaly dragon and closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, and escape this harsh reality.

* * *

Rei did manage to fall asleep but was awoken some time later by Luffia's screams and cries. "Mama! Mama, come back! Wake up! Don't leave me! Mama!"

Rei groggily picked up the small dragon next to her who was calling out to her dead mother. The dragon bit and tried scratching its way out of her tight grip but suddenly stopped. It raised a hand in front of its head _._ Luffia looked up at Rei and cocked her head. "Rei-san?" Was the deep, quiet voice that came out of her mouth, "W-what happened to me?"

The oblivious girl had eaten a devil fruit by _accident._ Of _fucking_ course, only Luffia. Did she even know what a devil fruit was? Rei had hoped that maybe Dragon or Lucy had given it to her on purpose, but no. Rei looked at her with slumped shoulders and noticed Luffia's dragon eyes were leaking tears. She hurriedly rubbed her tears away and placed the blue dragon in her lap. "Shh…." Thinking of a way to distract her from the recent death and needing a distraction herself, Rei asked, "... Luffia did you eat a disgusting fruit?"

The dragon stared at Rei in confusion, "How did you know, Rei-san?"

Rei gave her a small pained smile. "That was a devil fruit, Luffia. If you eat one or even just take a bite of one they give you a cursed power. Like what you have, but now you can't swim anymore."

"I can't swim anymore?" Luffia echoed, "Keita-san had just finished teaching me how to swim as well."

"Yeah…So when did you eat it?"

"When Mama.." Luffia let out a hiccup, her eyes tearing up again, ice blue eyes staring at her mama's covered corpse.

"Shh… it's okay you can tell me in a bit if you want."

Luffia shook her head stubbornly as she hiccuped again, "It's okay. I ate it when I was left here. There was this fruit that I _-hic-_ took a bite out of and it tasted disgusting and bitter. I found it over _-hic-_ there in those boxes." Luffia told the commander, pointing to the table stacked with boxes.

Rei jumped up, still holding Luffia, and headed to the table. She opened all the boxes until she found the one she was looking for. A bitten devil fruit was sitting in it and Rei picked it up and stared at it until she realised something. This was the devil fruit that had suddenly gone missing a month or so ago, it must have been misplaced. It was a devil fruit that hadn't been marked in any devil fruit books, no one had ever seen anything like it. It was long, ice blue in colour with dark blue swirls. "Dammit.."

"What's the matter, Rei-san?"

"Huh? Oh nothing."

"Really?"

"Well.." Rei said as she walked back to where they had been laying down and sat down, purposefully making sure that Luffy could not see her mother. "This is an unmarked devil fruit. There are no mentions of it in any books, so we have literally no information on it. If you had eaten one that we did have information on we would be prepared with what power we're dealing with. But now we have no idea what other power you could suddenly have."

"Oh.."

"Yeah.. Now we have to get you out of this form."

Luffia cocked her head, "How do we do that?"

Rei shrugged, "I have no idea, I don't have a zoan type devil fruit. I'm a logia."

"You have a devil fruit too, Rei-san?"

Rei nodded, "You never knew?" When Luffia shook her head she raised an arm and let it dissolve.

Luffia's eyes widened, her blue eyes alive with wonder. "Wow, it turned into sakura blossoms."

"Mhm, I just automatically transform, but now that I think about it, just try to imagine yourself turning into human I guess?" Rei offered.

The dragon's face scrunched up as she done as told. It was a few minutes later, when she gave up and gave a hopeless shrug to the older female.

Rei sighed. "Huh… Well just hold your hand out in front of you and try just turning your arm back to normal."

Luffia nodded, and then did as told. It took a few minutes, but her dragon claws slowly transformed back into human hands, and as Luffia concentrated harder her scaly arms came back to normal and soon enough she had transformed back to human.

Rei smiled at her, and then picked her up and held the small girl in her arms comfortingly. Luffia looked at Rei, eyes teary and nose runny. "But… Mama…"

"Shhh, go to sleep Luffia. Dragon-san will be here when you wake up." Rei replied, in a soft soothing tone that reminded Luffia of her mother's voice. She missed her mama so so much. But under Rei's comforting touch her mind and body relaxed.

Rei sighed, rubbing Luffy's hair. She stared at her mentor's lifeless corpse, and tears trailed down her cheeks. She sniffled, wiping them away with her free hand. She needed to be strong, she couldn't break down. Not now. Not while she had to look after Luffia.


	3. Massacre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Next chapter will be out in a few days :)

Dragon crossed the bridge, lowered from the ship onto the island, so that everyone could easily move between the two. He hesitated for a split second before putting his foot on the ground. A small cloud of ash rose up, disturbed by his movement, and Dragon grievously watched it for a while as it was caught by the wind and scattered around.

The once beautiful island, lush with greenery under the bright blue sky, was no more. In place of it, there was only a lurid grey field. The sky was darkened, obscured by the smoke which didn’t seem to be in a hurry to disperse. Ash was still slowly falling from the sky like grey snowflakes, covering everything it touched, the silent descent disrupted only by occasional onsets of wind.

The Revolutionary army’s base was completely destroyed. Crumbled buildings were staring at the newcomers with their empty windows as though asking why living humans came into this hell. But the worst was the howling wail of the dead island, created by the wind blowing through the corpses of the buildings, deafening in an eerie silence.

Bodies were everywhere. Bodies of family members, friends, partners, co-workers… Some bodies were still smoldering, the ones that was not destroyed by explosions but who got burned alive in the fire which erupted afterwards.

Dragon’s eyes landed on two figures, huddled up in the corner of two buildings, and he quickly walked over to them. The bodies were completely unrecognizable, embers still blazing under black charred skin, gradually covered by ashes. The adult had clearly tried to protect the child from the fire, even though they’d probably known that it was impossible.

Dragon crouched down and gently touched what was once an adult human’s shoulder. His stomach churned and it seemed that somebody had clutched his heart painfully when his fingers touched the rough burned skin. “I’m sorry…” The whispered words left his mouth before his mind even caught up with the action.

  
Dragon heard footsteps behind him, and he stood up, turning to give orders. Commander Takeshi stared at him, his usually stoic and cold expression replaced by a grim but still composed one. His gold eyes, however, were not as calm as his face was. There was pain, sorrow, and fury in them, asking – no, demanding – the retribution of those who did this horrible deed. But it paled in comparison of the same emotions in Dragon’s gaze.

“Search for any survivors,” Dragon ordered. “Make a few teams and check the whole island including the old hideouts. I will go to the main hideout.”

 

Takeshi nodded and turned to walk off, to do as told. He halted mid-move, then faced his leader again. “Lucy-san is a very strong and smart woman,” he said before adding, “They also had Rei with them.”

Dragon didn’t reply anything to that. He put his hand on the commander’s shoulder and grasped it tightly before quickly walking towards the base’s main building.

After going through many stairways and unlocked doors (as he easily walked through them, he wondered why they hadn't been relocked and hoped against everything that the two of them were fine), he finally reached the entrance to the hideout and noticing that that too was unlocked he let out a deep breath he hadn't realised he was holding. He slowly opened the heavy door, his body taut, ready to fight, and walked in.

Dark eyes immediately fell to the covered body on the ground, laying in a pool of blood. Dragon felt a sudden sense of foreboding as he stared at the shrouded corpse but before he went to it, he looked around the room. And then he noticed them. The two at the far corner of the hideout hidden by tables and boxes. He hadn't sensed them, being to distracted by the need to unveil the body. Relief rushed through his body and he let out a small breath, at least his daughter was well and safe and he could only hope his wife was too.

Luffia raced towards him, wings flapping on her back, horns sitting on her head and a tail wagging behind her, but he didn't take a second glance at them. He just held his hands out and let her jump right into them. He patted her back making sure not to pull on her new wings, as she sobbed.

Tears soaked his cape as Luffia started mumbling, “Papa! Mama… mama she- she's gone!”

Dragon’s eyes widened at her words and then he looked at Rei, who had limped towards them covered in red, and noticed the broken hopeless expression on her face and the way her eyes were flickering between him and the corpse guiltily. (Oh God, please no. Don't let this be what I think it is.)

Luffia carried on, “Mama went to heaven! She left me! She left us, Papa!”

Dragon froze, his hand stilled and he stared woodenly at the wall opposite him. A small part of his mind weakly noticed the ever growing wetness on his shoulder.

He let the information spin around in his head, this couldn't be true. Maybe his lover was just unconscious, hopefully his daughter was exaggerating. But then he glanced back at Rei and all the confirmation of Luffia’s words were expressed on her face.

The redhead looked down in shame and if possible looked even guiltier.

How could this have happened?

He eyed the corpse, “That's her… isn't it, Rei?”

From the corner of his eye he saw Rei nod slowly. He swallowed dryly, nauseated at the fact that it was his wife (his wife! His dead wife!) laying lifelessly on the ground only metres away from him. He carefully placed his teary daughter in the commander's hands, “Turn around,” he commanded.

Rei did as told, knowing exactly why. Her leader didn't want Luffia to see her dead mother more times than she had too. Luffia jumped up, “Papa…”

Rei sighed, “Shhh…” she whispered as she rubbed the young girl’s head softly, minding her sharp horns.

Dragon forced himself to walk to the corpse, (he wished it was all just another nightmare, more vivid than others but he wished it wasn’t true, he wished that any second now he'd wake up and Lucy would be grinning next to him, but no he didn't wake up. This was all real. This was reality) he slowly peeled the cover of (this was a cape, he noted, the cape that Lucy had chosen for the commanders was the same one that shrouded her lifeless body) and he stared at his wife.

His wife looked so so peaceful. It was as if she wasn't dead, like she was just sleeping. She was smiling, peacefully and softly. Dragon stared. She was caked in blood and dirt and as he uncovered the rest of her body he noticed all the injuries. Gunshot wounds, stab wounds and cuts and bruises covered her body. Some of the wounds were roughly bandaged, but the once white bandages had colored maroon. Staring at all the dried blood coating and surrounding her, he distantly noted that she had died from blood loss. Looking back at her tranquil face, he once again thought of how happy she seemed. As if she was going to open her eyes and prank him, and once again everything would be fine again.

He was brought back to reality when his fingers subconsciously grazed over her skin, she was ice cold. She was dead, she had left him -them-, and she wasn't coming back. (This couldn't be happening, how could she have died? How can she look so peaceful even in death?!) He saw water drops fall onto her face and then felt more tears trail down his cheeks.

Dragon could hear Luffia’s own crying and he stiffened. He needed to be strong, he couldn't break down now. He glanced over his dead lover's form one last time before regretfully covering her. (I'm sorry, love. For not being there. How I wish I could've been.)

He hurriedly walked back to where the commander was standing and gently took his daughter from Rei. He gave the redheaded woman a small nod, “Thank you for trying…” Dragon trailed of, he knew the bandages were courtesy of the Commander, there was no one else after all. “And... thank you for taking care of Luffia.” If she hadn't then Luffia would have been an even bigger mess than she already was.

Rei shook her head as tears fell from dull, red-rimmed eyes onto pale cheeks. “I don't deserve thanks, Dragon-san. What I done wasn't enough, if only I had gotten there sooner. I could have saved her!”

Dragon shook his head as he unconsciously rubbed Luffia’s head, unsuccessfully trying to quiet her sobbing form. “What's happened, happened. No matter how much we'd like to change it.” He would love to have gotten here soon enough, to have not even gone on that mission. He wanted to be able to change the fact that Lucy was dead, but he couldn't! The cold, harsh truth remained that his lover and all his subordinates had died in this attack.

Rei remained silent, only letting loose more sobs. “Come, let’s go back to the surface. I don't want Luffia to stay here any longer,” Dragon said quietly.

Rei gave a slow nod, “Dragon-san… were there any other survivors?”

The look on her leader’s face told her everything, and Rei looked away with misplaced guilt.

The trio left the hideout, all three trying not to stare at the veiled corpse.

Luffia quieted down, blue eyes staring at her mother’s distancing figure and before she knew it they had reached the surface.

Dragon hesitated, his fingers brushing over the handle leading to the outside world. “Lu,” he said aloud, and in response Luffia’s scaly tail twitched, “close your eyes.”

Luffia tensed, but she complied with his order and slowly closed her eyes.

Dragon sighed, “And keep them shut please.” Dragon felt her nod and then opened the door.

Dragon stepped outside, cautiously followed by Rei. Immediately the nauseating pungent smell hit them. Rei grimaced, glancing around. There was ash floating around in the air and some of it landed on her. She shivered staring at all the bodies covering the ground, burnt beyond recognition, and she let out a shaky breath. She looked back up, and noticed that her leader had gone on ahead. Rei stared at the island they had all once called home, her face tinged with sorrow, regret and anger before catching up with Dragon.

As soon as her father had opened the door, Luffia's face had screwed up in disgust. There was this gross sweet smell that had hit all of her senses. She coughed and whilst doing so accidentally opened her eyes. She gaped in shock, she could feel her father moving but she herself felt frozen. There was smoke and ash everywhere, there was no trees or grass! Everything had been turned into rubble! And covering the ground was bodies. So many of them but none looked familiar. What had happened?!

Suddenly, her sight went black and she couldn't see the horrendous sight anymore. Luffia twitched as she felt her father stop walking, and she realised that a hand was covering her eyes.

“Don't look!”

That was Rei-san’s voice, so it was Rei-san’s hand that was covering her eyes. Luffia heard her father and the commander share a conversation which she zoned out on. What happened? Who were those bodies? Where was everybody? ...Wait... Was that everybody? Oh, just what had happened to her family? Why were they all dead?! Oh god! How could this have happened? Why couldn't everything be normal again? What happened?!

 --

Luffia’s eyes jolted open. She cringed, assuming that she would be privy to the bloody sight again. However her eyes opened to the familiar sight of the wooden ceiling of the infirmary in her father's ship.

Dragon stood next to the bed, and she glanced at him, then at Ivankov and Inazuma who were standing next to the door. She stared at Ivankov remembering something, “Iva-chan!” She exclaimed, small hope reappearing.. “Can you heal Mama with your thingy? Your powers?” She asked desperately, tears forming in her eyes.

Ivankov looked at her, “VI'm sorry Luffy, but I can't.”

Dragon sat on the bed next to her, “Luffia, Mama’s gone to heaven.”

“B-but,” Luffia sniffled, “Iva-chan has his devil fruit thingy doesn't he? Can't he do something?”

Dragon rubbed her back softly. “I'm sorry, Lu. We can't heal Mama.”

Luffia nodded and then tried to turn away onto her side, but that pulled on her wings uncomfortably. What had Rei-san said? Imagine your body turning back normal. She relaxed and within a few minutes her wings had disappeared along with her horns and tail.

Luffia turned away from their gazes and stubbornly stared at the plain wall. She felt a blanket being place on her, only making her glare at the wall even harder, that’s what Mama’d do for her. Mama would place the blanket on her and then tell her some stories. The best stories were the ones about Uncle Pirate King. Tears fell out of her eyes and she rubbed at them harshly before screwing them shut, not letting any more escape.

 --

The sun had disappeared letting free the dark night sky. Luffia stared up at the sky, unable to see the stars due to the clouds. She looked back down and at the small boat on the sea, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

They had all gathered on one edge of the island, Dragon, Takeshi, Luffia and all the revolutionaries who had arrived with Dragon. All were staring at the boat, the boat which was holding Lucy’s lifeless body. Luffia fisted her hands tightly, nails biting into her skin. Dragon stepped forward, a piece of wood aflame in his hand. “Thank you, Lucy… For everything.”

He placed the flaming fire into the small boat and nodded to Takeshi. The black haired commander cut the rope holding the ship to the island, letting the boat free into the ocean.

Dragon stepped back, and picked up his sobbing daughter. Luffia hurriedly placed her arms around his neck, stuffing her face into his shoulder, wetting it with tears. Dragon’s grip on her tightened unconsciously as his gaze followed the burning boat. He couldn’t keep his wife safe, she had died, and for that he would never forgive himself.. But he swore that he would keep his daughter his safe, he wasn’t going to let her die. He would keep Luffia, alive and safe. ‘That’s a promise, Lucy!’ Dragon stared at the crumbling boat, watching the ashes fly off into the cloudy sky.

  
\- A couple weeks later -

They had left the island, burying whatever had remained of the their fellow revolutionaries. All the bases around the world had been notified on the recent massacre. Now Dragon and the others had been sailing the more hidden waters of the Grand Line, whilst trying to find more hidden unknown islands.

Luffia woke up with a small gasp. Another nightmare. She could literally hear her heart with how fast it was beating. She felt around for her father but was met with a cold empty space. Luffia glanced around the dark room but it was just as empty. She slowly got up grabbing her white plush bear and left the room.

Luffia headed for her father's temporary office. That's where he always was. She stood on her tiptoes and slowly opened the door, stepping in as quietly as she could. The room was dim, and she saw her father sitting behind a desk a bottle of alcohol in his hands. Another bottle, she noticed, had been thrown at the wall opposite him. Cracked on the floor, liquid leaking freely onto the ground. She stepped over to her father, and stared. Papa was staring at a picture of her Mama, and there were some tears falling out of his eyes.

Luffia put her bear down, climbed on him and then hugged him. She didn't say anything, just clutched him tightly. She soon felt his arms slowly tighten around her and she placed a dry kiss on her father's cheek.

“Let's go back to sleep, Papa.”

With Papa there, she wouldn't have anymore nightmares and with her there for Papa, he wouldn't drink anymore.

It was a win-win situation.

If only Mama were here, she thought as her father placed her back in bed and laid next to her, everything would be fine again. She wanted Mama back.

  
\- Three slow weeks later -

  
Dragon hated to have to do this, he wished he didn't have to. But it was better this than having his daughter in danger. He stared at her, Luffia was sitting opposite him, they were both in his office. Luffia raised an eyebrow, “Why do you look constipated, Papa?”

Dragon let out a sigh. “I'm sorry, Luffia.”

Luffia cocked her head, more than confused. “Huh? Why?”

“Luffia, have I ever told you about my father?”

Luffia nodded. “Yeah, the crazy marine.”

Dragon let out another sigh. “Luffia, ever since the accident..”

Luffia glared at the ground, her mood immediately souring.

“You haven't been safe.”

Luffia looked up. “What?” That wasn't what she had been expecting.

“The marines found our last base which we had thought that didn't have a clue about.” He continued slowly, wanting Luffia to understand what he was saying.

She nodded along, but Dragon could see the confusion in her eyes.

“You're not safe with us. You're in danger. The marines could find us at any given moment.”

Her frown deepened. “That means we're all in danger, doesn't it?”

“It does but all of us are trained fighters.” Dragon stated, before coming out with it, “Luffia, I have spoken to my father and he has agreed. He will keep you safe in East Blue.”

Luffia’s eyes widened as everything slowly sunk in. Her father was sending her to East Blue. Her father was sending her to a crazy marine. Her father was sending, what? Away?! Her father was sending her away?! But why?

“Why?!” She asked aloud, jumping of her chair. “Why are you sending me away Papa? I wanna stay! Don't send me away! Please! I'll become really strong! Rei-san and Natsumi-san will teach me! I'll protect myself! Please-...” she trailed of with a sob, tears forming easily.

Dragon hurriedly picked her up, hugging her close to his chest. “Oh god!”

“D-do you not love me anymore? Is it because mama went away? Was it because of me? I promise I'll be good!”

Dragon shook his head, even though his little girl couldn't see him. He sat her down on a chair and knelt in front of her. “Luffia! No!”

Luffia flinched.

“That's not what this is! I love you more than anything! Mama didn't die because of you! OK?! It wasn't your fault!” Dragon shouted at her in a hurry, trying to get his words out fast enough.

Luffia rubbed her tears away. “Then why do you want to send me away, Papa?”

“I'm not sending you away. I'm keeping you safe. I don't want you getting hurt. And with my crazy old man you'll be safe.”

“Can't you keep me safe, Papa? You're strong! And Rei-san has been teaching me how to control my devil fruit too. I can be strong too.”

Dragon shook his head, “I can't keep you safe. Mama died, I couldn't keep her safe either.”

“But that's only because you were away!” Luffia protested.

“Exactly! I can't always be there, Lu. ...I would never be able to forgive myself, if I lost you too! That's why I want to keep you safe.”

Her shoulders hunched inward, even if her father wanted to keep her safe she still wanted to be with him. With everyone!

Dragon's voice cut into her thoughts, “Luffia, you'll have a den den mushi. You can contact us at anytime. And when any of the commanders or I are in East Blue for missions we'll definitely visit you.”

She wanted to protest more, she really did. Try to convince her father to let her stay but she stared up into his tired, sad eyes and she just couldn't. Papa was trying to do his best and if he thought this was it then she'd listen. “Alright.”

Dragon gave her a tired smile, and she gave back her own timid grin.

“So Luffia, we'll be meeting Garp in a week…”

  
-One week later-

  
Dragon and Luffia were at the planned island. Luffia had said bye to everyone, and when she had noticed all their solemn gazes she had stolen a piece of meat. It was worth the small scolding because they had all smiled.

Luffia looked up at her father, “Hey, Papa.”

“Hm?”

Neither had discussed Mama that much, the subject being sore for both of them. She took in a deep breath and asked, “Do you think Mama’s happy wherever she is?”

That was a question Dragon had been asking himself recently. He gave a small smile to his daughter and nodded. “I'm sure she is, Luffia. Your Mama’s always been happy whenever we are , right? So stay happy, Lu.”

Luffy smiled. “That means you must too!”

Dragon nodded absentmindedly, his gaze focused on the large familiar figure that was heading towards them. He glanced down at his daughter. “That's him.”

Luffia stared at the man. “He looks as crazy as Mama had described him to be.”

“Yes, he does, doesn't he?”

 

Garp slowed down in front of the two figures. When he had received a message from his son a couple of weeks ago he had been beyond surprised. And when Dragon had asked if he could do him a favour he was suspicious but agreed. He knew about the buster call and had been curious about what his rebellious son wanted. What he hadn't expected was that his stupid son had a child. A child that he wanted Garp to look after. First Roger, now Dragon. What was up with these people asking him to look after their children?

But he had accepted, Dragon had told him about the death of his wife, and he had accepted, curse his soft heart. And now here he was standing in front of a girl who looked like a mini of her mother, with only few characteristics of her father.

Dragon nodded at him. “Garp, this is Monkey D. Luffia.”

Luffia eyed her grandpa, before giving a polite nod. “Nice to meet you, Jii-chan.”

Garp laughed. “A polite one, eh?” Better than a rude brat like Ace.

Dragon smirked to himself, once Luffia opened up she could be rude and stubborn.

Garp looked back up at Dragon, and glanced at the bag in his hands. “I don’t have much time. Are you lot ready?”

Dragon passed the bag to Luffia. It wasn't that heavy, after all. He smiled at her, “Remember ring whenever, alright?”

Luffia nodded. “Sure, Papa.” Then she walked to her new guardian and waved at her father, “Bye bye!”

“Stay safe, Lu.”

Luffia smiled and then looked up at the old man. Her grandfather gave a roguish grin. “Time to leave, brat.”

“Yeah.”

Garp shrugged at her unenthusiastic answer, well she was leaving her father and her mother had only died a month ago, she would most probably depressed for quite some time.

Dragon watched as his daughter and father walk away. Just before they disappeared behind a building, Luffia turned around and waved again. Dragon smiled, watching the empty street in front of him. He grabbed his hood, covered his head, and walked away.

Time to get to work. 


	4. New Name: Fresh Start

When Luffy stepped on the marine ship, she'd been welcomed aboard the marine ship happily, but she kept a safe distance. Her grandfather seemed to have noticed her discomfort and thankfully, he showed her to an empty room. She was sailing with _marines_. Marines had killed her Mama and all her family. She didn't want to be with them. But this was Papa's choice and Papa wouldn't have let her go if he didn't think she'd be able to handle it.

Luffy rummaged through her bag until she found her whiter bear and clutched it tightly to her chest. "Heya Mr. Snuggles."

The soft silence was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Luffy stiffened but hesitantly jumped of the bed, Mr. Snuggles tucked safely under her chin, and slowly opened the door.

A young marine stood there smiling, and he held out a plate of food. "Luffia, here's your food. Would you like anything else?"

"No thank you." She muttered lowly.

The marine walked away. She willed her wings to appear, her hands full with the plate and her bear, and slammed the door shut with one. Well nearly shut, it was stopped by a large scarred hand. Her grandfather stood at the doorway, and he entered the room with a jolly grin. "Dragon had mentioned that you had eaten a devil fruit." He stated, glancing at her wings.

Luffy nodded, keeping her eyes on him as she back down and started eating. He followed suit and sat at the edge of the bed, eyeing her wings curiously. "You've eaten some sort of dragon devil fruit?"

Luffia swallowed, letting her wings disappear before answering, "Yeah, that's what Rei-san said."

"Ate it by accident?"

Luffia nodded again.

Garp laughed, but stayed silent after that, letting Luffia eat in peace. It was a few minutes later when Luffia spoke aloud, dragging the old man from his thoughts.

"What island are we going to?"

Garp replied instantly, "The name's Fushia Village." He answered, "It's a small peaceful village."

"Oh. That's good.

Garp laughed. "It definitely is."

"How long until we arrive then?"

"It's not long now." He stood up and headed to the door. "I'll let you know when we arrive."

Luffia nodded. "Okay."

Her grandfather laughed as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Luffia shrugged, "He wasn't that bad was he, Mr. Snuggles?"

* * *

Makino glanced up at the huge marine ship, letting out a small laugh at the villagers whispers. The same thing happened every few months, Garp-san would arrive, the villagers would gossip, he'd spend a few nights in his hometown and then leave again. This time, however, it was different. A small girl jumped from the tall ship, landing harshly on the rough ground. Makino hid her concerned frown behind her hand. "Are you alright?"

The little girl's head cocked up and looked startled at her question, but stayed silent.

Makino let out a soft curious smile, holding her hand out in greeting. "I'm Makino, who may you be?"

It took a few seconds (nearing minutes) of awkward staring between her and her hand before the girl finally held out her hand and cautiously shook it.

"Luffy. My name's Monkey D. Luffy." The girl introduced quietly, and Makino couldn't help but notice her eyes. The child's eyes were scarred, and dimmed. Her eyes were too old for a mere child.

But she didn't mention that, and instead smiled. "That's a nice name, Luffy. If you don't mind answering, why were you aboard Garp-san's ship?"

Luffy opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the man himself. "Ah, Makino! This is my granddaughter!"

Makino raised an eyebrow looking back and forth between both, there wasn't much physical similarities between them. Her gaze stopped at Luffy, and she smiled. "Luffy would you like to come and eat some food at my bar?"

Luffy's lips twitched into a tiny, barely noticeable smile. "Yes please."

* * *

Makino-san was odd for sure. She was happy, all smiles and after being on a subdued depressed ship for so long in was a startling change. A change which Luffia, or well she had named herself Luffy now, was content with. The island was tiny, it was much smaller than where she used to live, before it was destroyed, and well Luffy wasn't going to relieve those memories right now.

When they had first docked ship, the villagers had gathered about the ship filled with curiosity, obviously not used to many newcomers, officiating Jii-chan's statement of it being a small peaceful town.

"All finished, Luffy?" The question broke through Luffy's thoughts and she nodded, handing the plate back to the barmaid. She quite liked the name Luffy, Iva-chan called her Luffy all the time. A new name, and a fresh start.

Luffy didn't notice Makino staring at her until she felt something prod at her shoulder. She flinched, her body tensing at the sudden movement, only relaxing slightly when she heard the barmaid's hushed _'I'm sorry.'_.

It was only Makino, it wasn't anything else. Luffy shook her head muttering "It's fine," but purposefully moved back. She felt Makino's eyes focused on her, a curious glint in them and let out a small pained smile.

Makino returned the gesture with a bigger more honest smile. She leaned her elbows on the counter, her head resting in her opened palms, "How old are you, Luffy?"

"Six."

"Hm, I see."

Luffy knew that the barmaid wanted to ask more questions but held herself. So she thought of a topic and let out a true smile. "Makino-san, what do you think about pirates?"

Next to them Garp stopped eating so loudly, and Luffy inwardly winced. Maybe it was wasn't such a good idea to bring up her dream in front of Garp. Both her parents had always said he was crazy about pirates.

After a few seconds of silence, Makino sighed. "I don't really have an opinion on them. They make for good business, and fortunately none of the ones I've met have ransacked the village."

Luffy giggled. "I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates! And when I do, I'll come back and pay you with my treasure!"

Makino chuckled. "Oh? You like pirates?" This was an interesting turn of events, Garp-san's granddaughter wanted to be the Pirate King. (Later, in the privacy of her own mind, Makino would remember Luffy's eyes shining brightly for the first time since she had arrived.) The barmaid looked over to the marine to see his reaction, and her eyes widened.

Luffy followed her surprised gaze, and she froze. Garp slowly stood up, his eyes darkening, then he walloped her across her head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

Makino winced, "Garp-san…" she muttered.

Garp ignored her, glaring down at his granddaughter. "No grandchild of mine is going to be a pirate!"

Luffy straightened, rubbed the forming bump on her head, glaring back. "What? You can't decide that!"

She received another punch on her head, and she yelped in pain. "Stop hitting me! Why do your punches hurt so damn much?!"

Garp grinned, eyes darkening. "It's a fist of love! I'll give you many more, until your mind is rid of the idea of becoming a pirate! You're going to become a respectable marine!"

"Love?" She echoed. "That's not how you show love, you stupid old man!"

His fist came down again, but before it connected with her head she jumped of the stool, evading the attack. She sprinted to the exit, and ran out shouting, "I'm never gonna become a marine! I'm gonna be the strongest and freest pirate on the seas!"

She didn't get very far, mind you. Just as she exited the bar, Luffy was grabbed by another old man. _'What's up with all these stupid old men?'_

Luffy pouted dangling in mid air, held up by the back of her shirt. The small girl craned her neck to see what this man looked like, and raised an eyebrow. He was short, with a scraggly beard and a funny hat.

"Who are you?" She muttered rudely, glaring at him.

The man ignored her, walked into the bar, glancing at the furious marine and then at Makino. "Makino-chan. A beer, please."

Makino nodded, whilst Garp sat back down finishing of his own mug.

Luffy was placed on a chair, and the man sat next to her. "I'm the Mayor of this town." He introduced, "And you, young lady, are not going to ruin this town's reputation by becoming a filthy pirate."

"How will it ruin the reputation? Imagine! 'The Pirate King once lived in our village!' That makes it tons better!"

"Pirate King? You?" He asked incredulously.

Luffy blew a raspberry at him. "Hmph. Don't worry, old man. I'll keep your town and its reputation safe."

"No, you'll tarnish it."

Luffy rolled her eyes, turning her back on the Mayor and her grandfather. She placed her head on the table, and suddenly all her exhaustion crept it. She could feel her eyes drooping shut, she was so tired, when was the last time she had gone sleep? She hadn't gone sleep on the marine ship, too alert on being a ship full of marines. She was just going to close her eyes for a minute. Just a minute.

Makino glanced over at Luffy, and her eyes softened. "She fell asleep."

Garp looked over at Luffy before returning his gaze back at Makino. "Makino, could she stay with you?"

The bar owner nodded. "Of course Garp-san. Will you be off again?"

"Yeah. I'll be back soon to visit." Garp told her, he took the last donut and then got up and walked out of the bar.

"So carefree." Makino said, staring at the closing doors. She looked back at the dozing girl, and came around, gently picking her up. "I'm going to take her up. Will you be alright, Mayor?"

The mayor nodded, waving her away.

Makino left the Mayor, and placed the small girl on a bed. "Sleep well, Luffy."

* * *

Luffy awoke hours later, in an unfamiliar bed. She walked out of the room, still half asleep, and found her way back to the bar. She could hear a familiar ringing sound, and figured out what it was when she spotted Makino.

The bar owner was sitting on a chair, staring at Luffy's loud, vibrating bag. Luffy rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, walking closer. Makino turned around, and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, Luffy. I was going to wake you, but you were in quite a peaceful sleep."

Luffy opened her bag, and rummaged about before grabbing what she was looking for.

Makino stared as she brought out a pale yellow snail, the source of all the noise. "That's what's been making all the sound? What is that?"

Luffy smiled, rubbing her tired eyes. "Papa said I'd be able to call him through it. He showed me how to work it and it actually worked!" She answered with stars in her eyes, the snail was totally awesome.

"Oh? So are you going to… answer it then?"

Luffy nodded, and then lifted the receiver. "Hey, Papa!"

A deep voice came through. "Luffia, are you alright?"

Makino stared in disbelief but Luffy just grinned. "Yep! Jii-chan took me to this island, one that has a good reputation or something. The mayor said he doesn't want me to become a pirate cause that'll tarnish it. But Makino-san is really nice and she makes yummy food. And I fell asleep, and I didn't have one nightmare, that's good right?" Luffy rambled, her face brightening in delight.

Makino's eyes widened when she heard that Luffy had slept without nightmares. What had happened to the young girl? She was glad that she hadn't woken her up then, the poor girl had looked to be calmly sleeping.

"That's good, Luffia."

Was her full name Luffia? Makino wondered to herself. This young girl was shrouded in mysteries.

"Was Garp around when you mentioned you wanted to be Pirate King?"

Luffy pouted. "He was. Jii-chan's crazy, Papa! He punched me on the head like three times, saying that it was a fist of love! That's not what love is, right Papa?"

The snail's face winced, "No, that's not how you show love Lu. Garp is just… crazy. Try not to rile him up too often, he's going to put you through much worse the more you say it."

"I'll just beat him up!"

Makino frowned, that wasn't going to happen.

"That's not going to happen, Luffy."

Makino nodded approvingly, at least Luffy's father had some sense.

"He's far stronger than you, Lu, don't do anything too absurd. Where is he right now?"

Luffy shrugged, looking at Makino. Makino spoke up, "He's gone again. Said that he'll be back soon too visit though."

The snail's eyes narrowed. "Are you Makino?"

"Yes."

"Ah. If it isn't too much trouble, could you take care of Luffia?"

Makino smiled, "I was already planning to do so."

"Thank you. Lu, I'll ring again soon. Take care of yourself."

Luffy nodded. "You too, Papa!"

The snail smiled, then the line went blank. Luffy placed the receiver back on top, and turned back to Makino.

Makino ruffled her hair, "Your name's Luffia?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Yes. But you'll still call me Luffy, right?"

"If that's what you want."

They lapsed into silence, and it was broken when Makino stood up and carefully picked up Luffy's bag then motioned to Luffy to follow her.

"Where are we going?"

Makino smiled, "To our room. You need to rest, you still look dead tired."

Luffy smiled softly at hearing Makino's room being called our room. "Oh... Does that mean I'll be sleeping in your room?"

Makino nodded, she wanted to keep Luffy as comfortable and safe as possible, and to have the least amount of the nightmares mentioned. "Yes. Here we are, this is our room."

"It looks very nice, Makino-san."

"You plait looks beautiful too." Makino complemented fingering the braid in her hair.

A hint of red appeared on Luffy's cheeks. "Really?"

Makino giggled. "Yes, really."

* * *

Later when Luffy was fast asleep, Makino silently studied her. Even covered in mysteries, and all arrows pointing to her having an awful past, Luffy seemed to be a nice, sweet girl with a huge dream. Makino placed a soft kiss on Luffy's head, eyes softening at the bear clutched tightly in her arms. She was just a small child, stuck in a horrendous part of life.


	5. Shanks? Cabin Boy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title says it all. Enjoy!

Makino's eyes widened in surprise, "Wow!" She muttered staring at Luffy.

"You really haven't seen a devil fruit eater before?"

Makino shook her head, her eyes fixated on the small blue dragon. "There's been legends of course, but no one's really believed them."

Luffy transformed back into her human form. "I wanna fly again. I haven't done it since… ages." She trailed of.

"Oh? When did you eat this devil fruit?" Makino asked, resting her face in her hands.

Luffy's small smile disappeared. "Only a little while ago." Luffy said, before closing up.

Makino was about to change the subject noticing her dampening mood, when shouts from outside caught their attention.

"Pirates! Pirates are here!"

Luffy's frown slipped into a small happy grin. "Really?!" She yelled before running out of the bar. Makino sighed, she could only hope the pirates wouldn't hurt Luffy. She had seen and interacted with many pirates before and none had really liked kids.

Luffy ran through the small panicking crowd and reached the front. There was a huge pirate ship docked, and pirates were jumping off.

A red haired pirate, wearing a straw hat, stood at the front of the crew, staring right back at Luffy's curious gaze.

"Are you the captain?" Luffy asked the caped redhead. Red haired pirate, why did that seem familiar?

The man nodded, "Yeah. Shanks." He introduced, staring at the girl curiously. She looked mightily familiar. "What's your name?"

"Luffy. What'cha doin here? The mayor doesn't like pirates here. Thinks they'll tarnish the reputation of this village." Luffy told him, looking at the furious mayor standing next to her.

Shanks grinned, "Really? What reputation?"

Luffy shrugged. "I dunno."

"Hm," Shanks turned his attention to the mayor. "Mayor, we mean no harm. We'd just like to have some food and drinks."

"Like hell you are! You're not stepping another foot on this island!" The mayor shouted, waving his stick around, but he reluctantly stopped when Makino pushed him back softly and walked forward.

"Mayor, it's alright. They don't seem to have any ill will. And Luffy's taken a liking to them."

Luffy smiled.

"Luffy'd take a liking to anyone who's a pirate!" The mayor grumbled, but he didn't stop Makino.

Makino looked at the pirates. "I own a bar, if you'd like to come and…" she trailed off, the offer loud and clear.

Shanks grinned. "That'd be excellent. Come on, boys!"

Luffy followed the crew, hands behind her head. Redhaired pirate, that seemed very familiar. Redhead, redhead, redhead… Ah! The drunk cabin boy! Was this redhaired pirate the same one Mama talked about though?

They'd been drinking and eating for the last hour, while Luffy scrutinised the Captain from behind the counter and absentmindedly helped Makino. Her mind was mainly focused on Shanks. Was he Uncle Roger's cabin boy or just a random passing pirate with red hair?

"Luffy, was it?" Shanks asked, breaking Luffy's train of thought.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah."

"While I'm used to stares," Shanks started, eyes twinkling in amusement, "You're a lot different. So mind telling me why you've been staring at me for the last god knows how long?" He asked with an easy going grin.

Luffy jumped over the counter and sat on the empty stool next to him. "There's no way to tell…" She muttered, staring him over. Mama hadn't given a physical description, after all. Oh how she wished Mama was here. She took a deep breath, she couldn't focus on those memories. Not now, not here.

"Tell what?" Shanks questioned, eyebrows raised in confusion.

"There could be other redhaired pirates and I'm sure loadsa pirates drink."

"What? You looking for a pirate?"

Luffy shrugged. "Not really."

"Then?"

She'd just come out with it. She'd heard her Mama say a few times, 'what's the point of delaying the inevitable?'. "Do you know of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger?"

Shanks's eyes widened, "How do you know that name?" He demanded

So he was! Mama had said that not many knew him by his full name, mostly only his crew. "You are!" She shouted excitedly, ignoring his question. "You're the cabin boy on Uncle Roger's crew!"

His first mate, she think the others called him Benn, who was sitting on Shanks's other side was listening to their conversation intently.

"H-How would you know that, brat? Who the hell are you? Uncle Roger?!" He half shouted, words spilling out easily.

His shout was gaining with attention of the crew, but Benn waved them away and the crew started drinking again.

Luffy smiled. "I'm Luffy." She answered. "I know all about you and the idiot blue clown and the doctor and their annoying pervert first mate! Can you tell me about the adventures you had on Uncle Roger's ship?" She asked, eyes gleaming in excitement.

"No, no! What? Wait! Annoying first mate?" He remembered one person who called Rayleigh that. "You know Lucy-san? Where is she? Why has she been telling a random kid about us?"

And just liked that, Luffy's good mood vanished. "Mama's gone." She stated quietly.

"Mama?!" Shanks asked in shock. Then it sunk in what she had said. "Oh fu- crap! Uh I'm sorry kid."

Luffy shook her head. "No. It's fine." She rubbed her eyes, though no tears had yet to fall. "It's you then isn't it? The drunk redhaired cabin boy?"

Shanks nodded, him mood sombering. "Yeah." He replied, his mind filled with unanswered questions. When had Lucy-san died? How did she die?

Luffy seemed to know what he was thinking, it was only natural to be curious and he deserved to know. Mama had always spoken fondly of the crew She took a deep breath and stared up at him. "Mama died a couple of months ago. It was a Buster Call."

Both Shanks and Benn's eyes widened. A buster call?

"Papa sent me here a few weeks ago to live with my grandfather."

"Is your father Dragon?" Shanks asked quietly.

Luffy hesitated, Papa likes keeping his identity secret but it seemed that Shanks already knew about her Mama and Papa, so she nodded.

Shanks frowned, Dragon had sent his daughter to keep her safe with his father. Who exactly was his father? "Who's your grandfather, Luffy?" He asked aloud.

"Jii-chan? That crazy old bat? Uh, he's a marine. His name's Garp."

Luffy heard another pirate spit out his mouth full of alcohol, behind her but ignored him. What was the big deal? She looked up and saw that even Shanks looked surprised.

Her confusion must have shown on her face, because Benn sighed. "Your grandfather is one of the strongest marines out there, and he's a hell lot of crazy too boot."

Luffy nodded, "Yeah, he's crazy." She agreed, remembering his fist of love's.

Shanks coughed, "I take it our bad luck has led us to the island he stays at?"

Luffy shrugged. "Dunno. Guess so."

Makino spoke up, from where she was watching with an amused gaze, "Yes, he comes every couple of months. He may come more often now that he's left Luffy here but I doubt it."

Shanks and Luffy both sighed in relief. Then looked at each other in surprise. "Why are you in relief?" Shanks asked, taking a gulp from his mug.

Luffy glared in irritation. "That old guys crazy. He said he'll beat out the idea of becoming a pirate from my mind."

Shanks looked down at her. "You? You're gonna be a pirate?"

Luffy stuck her tongue out at him childishly. "Hmph! I'm gonna be the Pirate King! And I'm gonna start of as a Captain, not a cabin boy!"

Shanks's eye twitched. "What did you say, you brat?"

"You heard me, old man!"

Shanks glared at the midget. "Oh? You think a shrimp like you can become a captain?"

"Yeah! And I'll be the best out there!" Luffy glowered back.

"Nice joke! No one will follow a weakling like you!" Shanks declared, before taking a second look at the shrimp and his jaw slacked in shock.

There was gasps of surprise from the crew as they all stared at Luffy. Luffy frowned and then looked down at what they were staring at. Oh. She had done it again. Half transformed by accident. Her fingers had turned into sharp claws, and blue scales covered her arms up to her elbows. She could feel the wings etched in her back and the sharp horns on her head. Luffy stared up at Shanks's gaping expression and smirked. "What? Never seen a devil fruit user before, Shanks?"

Shanks snorted. "Course I have, anchor."

Luffy felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. "Even though I can't swim, I can fly instead."

"A pirate needs to swim. How can you sail on open seas without swimming?" Shanks asked with a mocking grin.

"I won't fall in the ocean then! There's definitely going to be other pirates who've eaten devil fruits! And anyway my punch is strong as a pistol."

Shanks laughed. "Sure, anchor."

Her teeth grinded together, and her scaly arms tensed into a fist. She let out a deep sigh, and remembered her lessons with her Mama. She bought all her frustration and anger together and punched the older man in the side.

Shanks choked on his spit, and fell of the stool. "Fuck! That actually hurt!" He looked up and saw Luffy laughing.

"Told you I was strong, Shanks!"

"You brat!"

Luffy ignored Shanks and looked around at the crew, worried they'd be angry that she hurt their captain. But, surprisingly they were all laughing. One of them, who had blonde dreadlocks and a bandana with 'Yasopp' written on it, around his forehead patted her on the shoulder. "Good work, kid! That was a nice punch!"

Luffy nodded uncertainly, "Right. Thanks, Yasopp."

The crew cheered her on, laughing at their Captain. Luffy looked back toward Shanks who was laughing as well. "You're not upset, then?" She asked as her animalistic features faded away.

"Upset?" Shanks echoed.

Luffy grimaced. "Well, I kinda did just punch you.."

Shanks laughed, beckoning to Makino for another drink. "Don't worry, anchor. Anyway, your punch ain't half bad!"

Luffy's eyes gleamed in delight. "I know, right?! Hey, Shanks! Does that mean you can take me on one voyage?" She asked happily.

"Hell no!"

"Please?" Luffy begged, her lips forming into a pout.

"Yeah, Cap'n!"

"Let her come on one trip!"

"She's not half too bad!"

Luffy looked back at Yasopp and some other crewmates, who were agreeing with her, and grinned. "Yeah, Shanks please!"

Shanks turned around and grinned at them. "Yeah, sure!"

Luffy nearly burst from excitement.

Shanks smirked, "But one of you have to stay here then!"

As if a switch had been turned, Yasopp and the others went to sit back down. "We're good, Captain!" Yasopp shouted.

Luffy glared at their backs. "You traitors!"

"Dahahaha! You're still too young to sail, anchor!"

"Don't laugh! Stupid Shanks!" And then another idea came to mind. "Uh, I mean sorry. Shanks-san!"

Shanks raised an eyebrow, what's up with her sudden change of attitude?

Luffy smiled at him. "Hey, Shanks!"

"Yeah?"

"Could you please tell me about some of your adventures on Uncle Roger's ship?"

Benn laughed, it seemed that Luffy did have manners. She just didn't seem to use them very often.

Shanks glanced at his first mate, but looking over at Luffy's excited demeanour, he shrugged. There was no harm. "Yeah, sure."

"Really? Like, really really?"

Shanks laughed. "Yeah! Now there was this one time, when me and Buggy-"

"Whose Buggy?"

"The idiot blue clown." Shanks said, repeating her own description of him.

"Oh! Yeah, go on!"

"Calm down, you impatient brat. Makino, refill please!"

Makino smiled, even if they didn't bump of to the best start it seemed that Luffy was warming up to the Captain. Makino was glad that the Luffy was talking to someone other than her. Luffy hadn't really communicated well with the village kids, and mostly spent her time inside the bar drawing and eating. Luffy had babbled the older woman's ear off about pirates, so meeting one must have been a dream come true.

* * *

_\- A little under a month -_

* * *

After getting used to the pirates loud and boisterous personalities, the bar was quiet without them. "Bored, huh?" Makino asked, looking at Luffy.

Luffy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry."

Makino frowned. "Luffy, it's ok to be bored. It is quite quiet without the crew.

"Yeah.."

Makino smiled, finished of polishing a glass before sitting next to Luffy.

Luffy eyed Makino's covered hair, "May I do your hair?"

"You know how to plait?"

Luffy's eyes brightened. "Yeah, Natsumi-san taught me."

"Natsumi-san is one of the commanders, right?"

Luffy nodded. "Yep. So can I?"

"Of course." Makino untied her bandana, and dark long locks loosened.

Luffy grinned, excitedly bringing her stool closer. Makino turned her back to her, and Luffy gingerly picked up the first strand.

Makino sighed in contentment, and Luffy's grin widened. "It feels good, right? It always felt nice when Natsumi-san done my hair."

"Yeah, it does."

Shanks and the crew returned later during the afternoon. Shanks entered the bar with a grin. "Hey Makino, Luffy!"

Luffy skated down the stairs. "Hey guys! You're finally back!" She sat down facing Yasopp, "Did you shoot any canons this time?"

Yasopp laughed, ruffling her hair. "Not this time, kiddo!"

Luffy pouted, and turned her attention to Shanks. "Can you tell me more adventures?"

"Hey that's not fair! Why do I get asked second, Anchor?"

Luffy stuck her tongue out at him cheekily, "Cause you always call me that annoying nickname!"

Makino let out a soft chuckle. "Luffy, they just returned. Let Captain eat before you start questioning him."

"Yes, ma'am! Hey, Makino-san can I have some food too?"

Makino gave her a plate, and Luffy grimaced at the vegetables but ate it up.

Shanks chuckled. "Seems like your appetite hasn't run off anywhere."

Luffy looked offended. "Of course not! Why would it? I'd be starving without food!"

Well, he didn't necessarily mean it like that but, "Sure, anchor."

* * *

After the crew had finished eating, they retired back to the ship. Luffy followed them in the air. She had been practicing with her wings, and it felt awesome to fly. The wind hitting her face, seeing the ocean from the sky. It was totally awesome, when she grew up she was going to pick someone up and show them the view too.

Luffy looked around the ship, and spotted Shanks. She landed on the head of the ship, and grabbed the knife she had hidden in her pocket. "Hey! Shanks! I'll show you I'm strong and then you can take me on your next voyage!"

Shanks laughed along, thinking it was just a harmless joke. "Yeah! Go on!"

Luffy hesitated and stared at the knife again. Shanks noticed the knife and saw the seriousness radiating of Luffy. "Hey, Luffy don't do anythi-

Luffy plunged the knife under her left eye before screaming in pain. "OW! That actually HURT!"

Shanks face palmed. "You IDIOT! What do you think you're doing?!"

They returned back to the bar after the doctor of the pirates crew had stitched and bandaged her deep cut. He had told her that she had been lucky, to escape a severe injury. If it had gone any deeper she could have damaged her sight. Now the pirates were doing what they were best known for. Partying.

Luffy sipped her juice. "Hey, Shanks! It didn't hurt at all!"

"Liar!" Shanks looked at the little pest he had been so worried about a little while ago. "Idiot! What made you even think about doing something like that?"

"You can take me on a voyage now too! That showed you I'm strong, and now I've got a scar too like you!"

Behind them, Lucky Roo, Yasopp and others cheered. "To Luffy's bravery, and our great voyage!" Lucky Roo shouted holding out his mug.

"Kampai!" They all yelled and chugged down the alcohol.

"More like stupidity." Shanks muttered then sighed. "Luffy, pirating isn't just about having scars. I'm not taking you on a voyage because you're still too young. You can go on your own voyages with your own nakama when you're older and more mature."

Luffy stayed silent, fiddling with her glass of juice.

Shanks faced the entrance of the bar, he could feel presences heading towards here. He was proven correct five seconds later when one bar door was kicked open and broken of its hinges.

A tall ugly looking man entered, followed by a dozen dirtily-dressed bandits. The tall one, who Shanks assumed to be the leader, spoke up. "We are bandits...These are the pirates? Fools! Bar woman we are not here to destroy the bar! Get us some alcohol!"

Makino gave the bandit an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Mister but my stock just emptied."

The leader looked around the bar, glaring at the pirates. "Hmm? That's strange...So what are these pirates drinking? Water?"

"I'm sorry. The last of the alcohol's all out there."

Shanks eyed the unopened bottle he was holding. "Oh I'm sorry. It seem we have drank the bar dry. Here, this bottle hasn't been opened. If you want, you can have it."

The bandit looked down at him and sneered. He punched the bottle, glass shards and alcohol falling on Shanks. Shanks head lolled down, and the bar went quiet.

The leader spoke up again. "I'm a wanted man. I'm worth 8 million Belli." He shouted, showing them a wanted poster with his face on it. "One bottle won't be nearly enough, don't take me so lightly!"

His bandits started snickering.

Makino looked terrified, and Luffy was shocked. Why wasn't Shanks fighting back?

Shanks looked up with a slight pout. "Now the floor's all wet. Sorry about that Makino. Do you have a mop?"

Makino looked down at the floor. "It's fine! I'll take care of it!"

She ran around going to grab a mop when she heard a loud bang. Makino looked back and a gasp escaped her lips. The bandits had slashed her counter making all the plates and glasses shatter on the Captain.

The bandit looked around haughtily and smirked, "If you enjoy cleaning so much, you'll enjoy this even more." He walked away from Shanks. "No point in wasting time here if there's no sake. Let's go."

The leader bandit left the bar and his cronies followed him. "Later, cowards."

The remaining door lonely swung shut. Luffy trembled on her seat, why didn't they fight back? Shanks was strong, he could've beaten them all up.

Shanks slowly looked up and grinned. As if a switch had been clicked his crew burst into laughter.

"He got you good, Captain!"

"How shameful!" Lucky Roo shouted in between fits of laughter.

"You got beat by such a weakling!"

Shanks joined the laughter, slowly getting up and shaking all the glass off himself. Makino started sweeping the floor, and Shanks helped.

Luffy grit her teeth in confusion and frustration. "Why didn't you fight back? You could've easily beat them up!"

Shanks glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and straightened. "It's not that I don't understand your feelings, Luffy. It's just some spilt alcohol. Nothing to get angry over."

Luffy ignored him, and ran out of the bar in anger.

Makino looked on worriedly. "Captain.."

Shanks smiled. "It's alright, Makino-san. I'll go calm her down."

Makino nodded. "Thank you."

Shanks's smile widened into a grin. "It's nothing!"

* * *

_\- By the sea -_

* * *

Shanks calmly walked towards Luffy, hands resting in his pockets. "Hey, Lu." The redhead noticed that Luffy didn't stiffen, so she must have heard him coming. He looked over at the at the calm ocean, eyes softening. "The sea looks really nice, doesn't it?"

"Yeah.."

Shanks sat down besides Luffy. "Luffy, those bandits were just jerks. They weren't worth fighting."

"But- but they were making fun of you! And he spilt alcohol on you and the plates and he cut the bar and-!"

"Luffy," Shanks interrupted. "You see people like him everywhere. Breaking stuff, calling names, thinking they're better than everyone else. I'm not going to go fight with all of them, now am I?"

Luffy stayed silent, and Shanks let out a soft sigh, glancing at the glittering ocean. "And y'know in the grand line, a bounty like that is nothing." Shanks told her with a laugh.

"Really? He seemed quite proud of it?"

"Haha, he sure did."

Shanks caught Luffy's smile and chuckled, ruffling her locks. "Shall we go back to the bar?"

"Yeah."

As they were walking back, Shanks snorted. "And anyway, who goes around with their own bounty poster?"

* * *

_\- A week -_

* * *

The crew had left again a few days after the incident, so now it was just Makino and Luffy in the empty bar. Makino looked over Luffy's shoulder. "Drawing, huh?"

Luffy nodded. "It doesn't look half bad, right?" She asked holding up her journal for Makino to see clearly.

"It does look really good." Makino complimented. Luffy had drawn the bar, all clean and tidy and done a pretty good job of it.

The repaired doors suddenly opened, and both looked towards it expecting the crew. Luffy's grin soured, when she realised who it was.

The bandits strode in as if they owned the place. "Alcohol and food, woman!"

Luffy frowned, but kept silent letting Makino serve them. Shanks wouldn't start a fight pointlessly.

"Oh? Where's those crappy pirates?" The haughty bandit asked, "They ran in fear?"

The hand holding her pencil shook in anger.

The bandits started laughing, "Did you see that red-haired fool's face the other day? And his followers? Their boss was on the floor soaked in beer and they didn't do a thing! Pirates are nothing but a bunch of cowards with a ship!"

"The pirates even fled; look at how scared they were. Running the minute we left the bar."

"Yeah, shitting their pants in fear!"

Luffy's small reign of her temper broke and she turned around glaring angrily at the stupid bandits. "SHUT UP! Shanks's strong! Stop talking bad of him and the guys! They're not cowards!" Luffy shouted.

Makino winced, "Luffy stop-"

"Don't make fun of Shanks, you stupid monkey faced bandits!"

The leader stood up, and headed towards her, glaring angrily. "What did you say?!"

Makino grabbed Luffy. "Please ignore her. I'll get your food."

"Gonna run away, huh scaredy cats?"

Please please shut up Luffy. Makino thought flinching at the growing glare on the bandits faces.

"I was going to let you go," the leader said. "But you've pissed me off! Boys, grab her!"

His cronies followed his command and two went to grab hold of her. Luffy punched one's stomach and kicked the other between his legs.

"I thought you guys would be stronger." Luffy muttered glowering at them.

A vein twitched on the leader's face. He kicked his fallen subordinates out of the way and drew his blade and struck. Luffy pushed Makino out of harm's way and let her wings free. She flew behind the bandit who was gawking in shock and kicked his back.

He lost his balance and fell on his face. The other bandits began to chase after her, but she flew higher evading their grasps.

They didn't give up though and kept chasing her, some climbing on tables and chairs.

"Hey, look here!"

Luffy looked back to where she heard the voice and her jaw slacked. There was blood. There's blood on Makino's cheek. Makino was bleeding. No.. No! Why was Makino bleeding?

Luffy fell to the ground, eyes wide in shock. One of the bandits grabbed onto her leg with a tight hold, which she hardly seemed to notice.

The leader bandit laughed. He didn't even need to do anything, well except hold a sword to the bar owners face. "Let's go. Keep a tight hold on the freak."

Makino panicked. They had gone and had taken Luffy with them. She ignored her bleeding cheek for now, it was only a small graze really. She needed to get Luffy back!

Makino ran out of the bar straight to the mayor's house, praying that Luffy was still alive.

* * *

Higuma glared down at the little girl roped under his foot. "That was a poor choice of words, kid. No one has ever pissed me of and lived to tell the tale."

Higuma lowered his hand to his sword, about to unsheathe it when he was interrupted by the Mayor. "Wait a minute! Let that child go! I beg of you!"

Luffy stared at the mayor in astonishment, he's never seemed to care for her. Why was he begging for her life? "I don't know what the brat's done, but we don't want any trouble! We'll pay you as an apology! I beg of you! Please just let that child go!" Breathing heavily, the mayor got on his knees. "Please!"

"M-mayor!" Why was he surrendering to a douchebag for her?

Higuma smirked. "You old folks sure know the ways of the world. Unfortunately, you're too late to save her! The little freaks pissed me off!" And he made to unsheath his sword again.

Even have having her face stomped on by the bandit, and her arms and legs tied, Luffy could still use her mouth. "You're the one pissing people of, mountain monkey! Go back to the mountains!"

Higuma sneered. "What a hopeless brat. You can regret what you've done in the afterlife." He did unsheathed his sword this time, and placed it against her neck.

Makino cried out in worry, "Luffy!"

The mayor tried once again, "Please! Let her go!"

Behind them, Shanks grinned. "There was no one in the bar, so I figured something was up."

Makino's and the Mayor's eyes widened in shock and they turned around, only to be greeted by the sight of the Red Haired Pirates. "And if it isn't our friends, the bandits!"

"C-Captain!" Makino greeted.

Luffia looked at Shanks, "Shanks!"

Higuma looked over his shoulder and glared at the pirate. "You're still in town, Pirate? Have been mopping all the floors in the village?"

Shanks ignored him and looked straight at Luffia with a teasing grin. "Luffy. Isn't your punch as strong as a pistol?"

Luffia growled at him. "I was gonna beat them up, but then Makino got hurt!"

Shanks's eyebrows furrowed, glancing at the drying blood on Makino's cheek.

Higuma interrupted their conversation. "I don't know what you want, but you'd better run before you get hurt. If you come any closer, you'll get your head blown off!"

Shanks ignored the kind warning and carried on walking. He calmly walked until a bandit came forward, aiming a pistol at his head. "He said not to come any closer, or you'll get your head blown off."

The bandits around them started smirking and Luffy's eyes widened even further in fear for Shanks.

Shanks lowered his head, his straw hat covering his eyes and he smirked. "Risk your life on it."

The bandit looked confused. "What?"

"With that pistol, you will risk your life."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Shanks pointed to the pistol with a finger, his eyes uncovered again. "This isn't a child's game."

A pistol was shot. The bandit fell to the floor, dead. Behind him Lucky Roo took another bite of his drumstick.

Makino and the Mayor looked horrified and the bandits started muttering.

"You killed him!"

"What unfair bastards..."

"Unfair?" Yasopp repeated.

"Don't be naive. You're not fighting against saints." Benn continued.

"The ones before you are pirates." Shanks finished.

"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!" A bandit shouted at Shanks.

Shanks took a step forward. "Listen, Bandits. I can have food or drinks spilled on me, or even be spat at and I'll laugh about it." Shanks's voice then took on a tone of anger. "However, if for any reason you hurt a friend of mine… I won't forgive you!"

Luffy sniffled. "Shanks..."

Higuma laughed. "You won't forgive us? Freaking pirates! Men, kill them all!" The bandits obeyed their leader and immediately attacked the pirates.

Benn stepped forward and faced the fuming bandits. "I'm more than enough to take care of all of them."

Not even ten seconds later, the bandits were unconscious on the floor and Higuma's eyes were wide with fear. Benn pointed his rifle at him. "If you want to fight us, you should bring a warship."

Luffy's face went blank and she only managed to mutter a word, "..Strong..."

The mountain monkey turned around to face the pirates. "Wa.. wait a minute! The kid started it all!"

Shanks smirked. "Isn't there a reward for your head?"

Higuma's expression turned into one of fear. He quickly threw down a black ball onto the floor.

"Smoke bomb!" Shanks shouted out in shock.

Black smoke appeared for no longer than thirty seconds but by the time it disappeared, Higuma and Luffy had disappeared with it.

Shanks's shock disappeared and reappeared as panic. He turned to Lucky Roo. "Oh crap, he took Anchor! What should we do?!"

Lucky Roo replied seeming almost as panicked, "This isn't the time to panic! We'll find them if we all look!"

Benn sighed, "Geez, this guy…"

* * *

Higuma and Luffia were on a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Higuma laughed. "That was easy. They'd never think a bandit would take to the sea."

Luffy growled, his hand was gripped tightly on her arm. Hard enough to bruise, she couldn't get free, from his hand or the rope. "Let me go, you stupid mountain monkey! Just drop dead!"

The bandit smirked, a dangerous gleam in his eye. "You're the one who's about to die, idiot! You've really pissed me off! Bye bye!" With that he flung Luffia into the ocean.

'Damn! Damn! The oceans making me weak. I can't get out! I'm gonna drown!'

"Sorry, but you're of no further use for me! HAHAHA!"

There's a reason why Bandits don't sail; they don't know the dangers of the sea. That is what we see here. Higuma the Bandit did not know the dangers of the sea and nor did he know it was a nest for dangerous sea kings. Oblivious to the danger behind him, he kept laughing until he heard a deep growl behind him. He turned around, and his legs wobbled. Her fell to his knees, looking at the huge Sea King in fear. "W-what the hell is that?!"

The Sea King Roared, opening its huge mouth and swallowing the scared bandit and the rowboat.

Luffy could feel herself sinking. After all those lessons Keita-san had given now she was going to drown in the ocean!

She was suddenly grabbed, and she took in a deep breath. She looked up at Shanks, but then she heard the breaths of the Sea King and tensed. The sea king came rushing forth, ready for its next meal. Shanks moved Luffy out of the way.

Luffia choked, "Shanks!"

Shanks glared at the Sea King. "Get lost!"

Genuine fear appeared in the Sea King's eyes and it escaped back underneath the ocean.

Shanks looked down at Luffy. "I owe you one, Luffy. Makino-san told me everything. You stood up to them for us."

Tears fell out of Luffy's eyes making Shanks grin. "Oi, don't cry! You're going to be a pirate, right?"

"But, Shanks... Your arm!"

A soft look appeared in Shanks's eyes. "One arm is a small price to pay. I'm just glad you're safe."

Luffy clutched Shanks's shirt and wept.

* * *

_\- Two days later -_

* * *

_There was blood, everywhere._

_"Take care, Lu..I regret not being there for you… when you… fulfill your dream. Become pirate… king Monkey… D. Luff...ia…."_

_No! Mama! Come back!_

_Mama was on the floor. Mama was surrounded with blood. Mama's blood._

_Makino, too. Makino had blood on her face!_

_Shanks as well! Shanks's arm was gone!_

_It was all because of her! Shanks's arm was gone because of her! Because she fought with the bandits! Makino was hurt too! Mama's dead! Oh god, Mama's gone!_

"Luffy! Luffy wake up!"

_She wanted Mama back!_

"Luffy! Wake up!"

Luffy's eyes jolted open, and she immediately noticed Shanks. "Shanks! Are you alright! Your arm! I'm so sorry!"

Shanks grabbed her closer and hugged her to his chest with his remaining arm. "You idiot. I can't promise that everything's going to be alright, but I swear I'll do my best to keep you safe."

Luffy sniffled. "B-but you lost my arm keeping me safe. You're just going to get hurt cause of me. Everybody does."

"Luffy, listen. Makino's fine. I'm fine. Your mama's passing isn't your fault, alright?"

"B-but-"

"Shh… listen to me brat. You've done nothing wrong. You have no need to apologise. None of it was your fault."

"But if I hadn't picked a fight, then you wouldn't have gotten hurt and neither would've Makino."

"Lu, I mean it. I went into the ocean on my own terms, and I know the dangers of the sea. L Did you force me into the sea?"

"N-no.."

"Did you hurt Makino?"

"No."

"Then why do you think it's your fault?

Luffy stayed silent.

"Exactly." Shanks said, when she didn't reply. "It's not your fault."

They stayed in silence after that, only broken when his stomach grumbled. Luffy's followed suit and she blushed.

"Shall we go get some food?"

Luffy stared at his bandages arm. "Doesn't it hurt? I can go get the food."

"Like hell it does. Losing an arm ain't gonna make me weaker."

"Really?"

"Yeah definitely… Hey, anchor don't get any stupid ideas about losing your own arm."

"Stupid Shanks." Luffy muttered but she was smiling and noticing it Shanks laughed.

* * *

_…_

* * *

Throughout the next six months Luffy slowly healed. Her nightmares lessened until they came to a halt. Her smile became more sincere and bright. And her eyes lost the dim that Makino first noticed when Luffy arrived.

She grew ever closer to Shanks. She learnt how his hat was sacred to him. Luffy had noticed their tattoos and one day asked if she was allowed one. Shanks had laughed and agreed and Benn had done it for her. There was a condition that it was to be kept bandaged like her revolutionary tattoo until she became her own pirate.

Garp visited and luckily for the pirates it was times when they were away. He noticed Luffy's more joyous personality, how she was much more boisterous than when he had first met her, but didn't comment. He also pretended that he didn't know the Red-Haired Pirates were camping out on Fushia, if they were the ones healing Luffy, where he couldn't, then he was happy pretending they didn't exist.

Now the time came that the crew were going to leave Fuschia. They had spent nearly a year in the East Blue and were going to head back to the Grand Line.

Today the Red Haired Pirates were stocking up all the supplies they needed for journey ahead of them. Luffy and Shanks were standing on some steps, and she looked up at Shanks. "You're really leaving today then?"

Shanks grinned down at the short fiery tempered child. "Yeah, we've been around in the East Blue for a long time now. Why, are you going to miss us?"

"No!" Luffy answered, then blushed, "...Yeah…"

"Dahahaha!"

"Shut up! Anyway, I'm not going to ask you to take me with you this time though. I'm going to do it myself. I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

Shanks stuck his tongue out at Luffy. "Bleh! I wasn't gonna take you with me either way! Like you can become a pirate, let alone the pirate king!"

Luffy growled. "I will!"

The crew grinned.

"I'll gather my own crew that'll beat yours and find the world's greatest treasure. No matter what, I'll become the Pirate King!"

Shanks smiled, "Oh, so you're going to beat us? Then..." Shanks took of his precious Straw Hat and placed it on Luffy's head.

"...I'll let you take care of this hat. It's very important to me. Take good care of it." Luffy trembled, Shanks didn't like anyone touching this hat. "Some day…" Shanks continued, "Return it to me... As a great pirate! It's a promise, Luffy!"

They boarded the ships soon after, the villagers shouting their goodbyes which were happily returned.

Luffy looked up at the ship and took a deep breath. "YEAH! It's a promise, Shanks! I'll take good care of it! And Benn and Lucky Roo and everyone else thanks for everything!"

Benn laughed lightly, whilst Shanks waved like a mad monkey. "Bye, Luffy!"

Yasopp pouted. "Why didn't I get named?"

Luffy heard Yasopp and laughed, "Bye, Yasopp! I'll be sure to find your son!"

She smiled at Yasopp's laugh of approval, and hugged the straw hat close to her chest. She couldn't wait to become a pirate and find her own nakama!


	6. Commanders and a rude brat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends come to visit, and Luffy is introduced to our very own Ace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-read by the awesome Syluk.

Luffy was not upset. Not at all. She was a strong girl who had been warned beforehand that devil fruit users weren't always accepted by society. That didn't stop it from hurting when the kids name called and chased her away instead of letting her play with them. One even threw a stone at her.

Luffy had gotten used to Shanks and the crew and their easy acceptance of her devil fruit, that she'd forgotten of the village kids hatred of the town monster. (The crew had already been gone for 3 weeks, 2 days and 4 hours but who's counting?)

Luffy grit her teeth in the unfairness of it all, but replaced her frown with a smile as she reached Makino's bar. Not always could she lay her troubles on her caregiver.

Hearing the tinkling of the doorbell, Makino looked up from a pile of books and smiled upon noticing the small girl. "Luffy, what have you been up- Oh Lord!" With the smile gone from her face, she rushed over and crouched in front of the straw-hatted girl. "Are you bleeding, Lu?"

Luffy winced as she reached out to wipe blood on her forehead, she hadn't thought that the stone had cut her skin. "It's fine, Makino. I just grazed myself."

Makino's forehead creased into a frown. "What happened? And tell me the truth."

"The other kids don't like me, Makino," Luffy muttered as she glared at her feet. "I'm just a monster to them."

The barmaid stiffened. "Oh, Luffy. You really aren't, the children have never seen any devil fruit users before. You're new, different and they aren't, well, open minded. It's not your fault that they can't accept you."

"I was being nice as well," The young girl mumbled stonily. "They're just stupid jerks."

Makino winced but couldn't deny her rather crude statement. "No bad words, Luffy," She ordered out of habit, before suddenly deflating. "Luffy, they are being jerks, but you can't stoop to their level, alright? There's always going to be people like that in the world, but don't let them get in your way." The woman smiled softly at Luffy, cupping her cheek with one hand and brushing a stray tear with her thumb. "You're an amazing girl, Luffy. Kind, compassionate, and courageous. One day, you'll achieve your dreams and rise above them all, and show them just how truly strong you are."

"It's just not fair," The small girl sniffled. "I like my devil fruit and I've never harmed them."

"Life's never fair, even for the kindest people. But, Lu, when you go on your adventures you're going to find your own friends who won't care one bit that you have a devil fruit. They'll simply love you for who you are."

Luffy nodded, blinking back tears.

Makino gave a small smile and got back up on her two feet. "Come on. Let's get your head bandaged and then maybe I can cheer you up with hot cocoa and extra marshmallows?"

"Yes, please!" With an eager shout, Luffy followed Makino into the back.

* * *

Later on Makino asked Luffy to pick some wild berries in the nearby forest while she cleaned the bar after the lunchtime rush-hour. When the doorbell chimed, the barmaid turned around expecting Luffy only to be met by the sight of two figures shrouded in long brown cloaks.

The taller one stepped forward and removed his hood, revealing a shock of wavy brown hair. "Sorry to intrude, miss, but are you Makino?" He asked politely.

"I am." Makino nodded, drying her hands on a dishcloth, a friendly smile on her lips. "Would you gentlemen like some food? Perhaps a drink?"

The stranger shook his head, "No, we're fine, thank you." He smiled, quickly looking around. "We're actually looking for someone, and we believe you know her."

The barmaid quirked an eyebrow. "Really? What's her name?"

"Luffia. Monkey D. Luffia. Is she around?"

Amber eyes narrowed suspiciously. "If you don't mind, may I ask what you want with a little girl?" Makino questioned, her smile turning chilly.

The taller male chuckled. "We mean her no harm, we're friends. I'm Keita and this," He pointed to his partner who had also taken off his hood, revealing pale skin, white hair and icy blue eyes, "is Kiyoshi."

"Luffia lived with us before she moved to the East Blue," Kiyoshi explained.

The barmaid's creased frown smoothed out. "Ah! You work with her father then?"

The commanders nodded in agreement, and a friendly smile on Makino's face was back in full power. "Come on, have a seat," She invited them. "I'll get you something to eat." Both men looked to be on the verge of disagreeing and Makino chuckled. "Luffy will be-"

"Luffy?" Kiyoshi interrupted, with a confused frown. "Is that what she's going by here?"

"Well, yes. When she first arrived, that's what Luffy introduced herself as." Seeing as neither commanders asked anything else, Makino continued, "Luffy's just gone to pick some berries, she'll be back soon." Once they sat down, albeit reluctantly, the barmaid started plating food.

Keita huffed out a small laugh and turned to his partner, "The little princess has really turned into a princess."

"I doubt it," Kiyoshi replied, a smirk forming. "Princesses are all dainty and quiet and shit. Can you imagine a Luffy not trying to shout out to the world that she's going to become the King of the Pirates?"

The other commander shuddered. "A Luffy not telling her dream to everyone who'd stand still long enough is a doppelganger."

"My point exactly- thanks, Makino," Kiyoshi thanked as their plates were placed in front of them. He tossed his ponytail back so it wouldn't get into his food.

Keita elbowed him. "Anyway, don't you think you should be cutting your hair soon? Are you like secretly competing with Natsumi?" He questioned with an amused smirk, flicking the ends of Kiyoshi's ponytail.

"Fuck you, don't touch my hair," Kiyoshi growled, shoving the other man.

"Aw, so touchy!"

The long haired commander flipped him the bird, and started eating. Keita shook his head and started digging in himself before suddenly elbowing his partner again.

"What the fuck man, some of us are trying to eat our food- Ow!" Kiyoshi yelped when the brunet stomped on his foot.

Keita rolled his eyes. "I hear footsteps coming towards the bar. Guess who it is?"

Kiyoshi shut up, turning to face the door. His scowl faded as a small figure entered with a basket in their hands. "Son of a bitch," He breathed, standing up. "Damn, you've gotten taller, little princess!"

Grey eyes swivelled to them, immediately followed by a huge happy grin. "Kiyoshi-san! Keita-san! I thought I smelt you guys! Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming by? Did Papa come? Wow, your hair is even longer Kiyoshi-san!" The straw hatted girl abandoned her basket and all but ran into Kiyoshi's awaiting arms. "I missed you all so so much!"

"And we all missed you so much too, Lu-Lu!" Kiyoshi grinned. "But, seriously, what's so intriguing about my hair?"

Luffy laughed, hugging him tighter.

Kiyoshi shook his head fondly. "And to answer all your questions... Keita?"

The tanned commander chuckled. "Well, we're here on a mission and we didn't tell you because where would the surprise be in that, Lu? And lastly, no your father will not be visiting this time. Sorry, princess."

Luffy shook her head adamantly. "Nuh-uh, it's fine! I'm glad you lot came though!"

Keita smiled, holding his hands out. "Where's my hug, Lu?"

Luffy laughed and then jumped into taller man's open hands. "Does Papa and all the other commanders miss me?"

His brown eyes glimmered with amusement. "Of course! Dragon-san has been even moodier since you left! Back home is so boring without you, Lu-chan!"

"I'm glad!" Luffy spotted the barmaid and jumped out of Keita's arms, grinning. "Hey, hey Makino! Look who it is! Keita-san and Kiyoshi-san came to see me!"

The greenhead smiled as she went around to the entrance and picked up the abandoned basket. "That is a very nice surprise. How about you sit down, and I'll get you some food so you can eat with them."

Luffy's face lit up. With a cheerful, "Yay! Food!" she jumped on the middle stool between two commanders. Kiyoshi sat next to her, and Keita adjusted the young girls straw hat with a fond smile.

"How have you been enjoying Foosha Village, princess?" Kiyoshi asked whilst picking at his food.

"Makino's so nice and awesome and, and did you know that Uncle Roger's former cabin boy became a really strong pirate! He even gave me this hat!" She grabbed the edges of the straw hat and tugged it down, beaming proudly. "It's so awesome! Shanks said that it was Uncle Roger's and then Uncle Roger gave it to Shanks and now Shanks gave it to me! We promised that when I become Pirate King that I'll return it back to him!"

Luffy stopped for breath and smiled up at Makino when she placed a plate in front of her; Keita managed to get a word in. "Wow, you certainly have not stopped talking people's ears off!"

"Keita-saan!"

Keita laughed. "Also, yes, we already know all this."

"What? How?"

"Possibly because you've already told us?" Kiyoshi added drily, placing his fork on his finished plate.

"Really?" Luffy scratched her head. "Oh yeah! I told you all through the snail! But, but did you know that I've learned to control my devil fruit better now! Benn-san taught me even though he doesn't have a devil fruit, he was totally amazing and super strong!"

"That I haven't heard before," Kiyoshi admitted, looking curiously at the straw-hatted girl. "So, Lu-Lu, why don't you show us your full transformation?" Neither Commander had actually seen it before, the whole time had been too stressful and emotional.

Luffy finished off her plate of food and grinned, leaping of her stool. "I'll show you!"

The commanders turned in sync to look at the transformation. Luffy threw her hat down to dangle on the thin rope tied around her neck, closed her eyes and a strong blue glow appeared around her. When the glow died down, a blue dragon replaced the form of Luffy.

Dragon Luffy had a small body with a long neck. Her thick, gemlike scales were the color of aquamarine beryls, getting finer and less thick on its neck and tail. The dragon had four thick limbs with four digits on each foot that ended in short sharp claws. She had enormous, leather wings which were slightly darker on the inside. Her dragon form had narrow eyes; ice blue irises and black diamond pupils with a hint of gold surrounding them. A mane of bony spikes sprouted from the back of her head, went down along her neck getting shorter towards shoulder blades and then across her back and rear, the whole length of the tail and ended at the tip with a few eight inch long bony spikes. Her straw hat hung around the base of her neck.

"Kiyoshi-san, Keita-san! What do you think?" Luffy asked eagerly. Her voice was much deeper now and had a distinct, growly undertone.

If someone were to accuse that hearing their little princess' voice sounding like that startled them, both commanders would deny it to their dying breath. However, behind them, Makino saw them flinch as Luffy spoke and couldn't help the amused chuckle that escaped her at seeing their reaction.

Kiyoshi pointedly ignored the barmaid's giggles. "This form actually looks proper cool, Lu! And you could probably smack a person real hard with those massive wings."

"Yeah," Keita agreed. "And if you were in a fight you could possibly sweep a person off their feet with your tail."

"Oh, and with your claws you can literally scratch their heads off," The long haired commander added.

"Also, you could-"

The barmaid coughed, interrupting their awfully kind suggestions. "Okay, I think that's enough," Makino stated, staring sternly at the two men.

Keita pouted, "I was just getting to the good stuff..."

"She's only seven," the greenhead hissed. "A child doesn't need that sort of advice."

Kiysohi nodded. "Okay, I get your point, Ma'am. We won't be giving anymore fighting tips until she's older."

The small dragon grinned, and all three adults grimaced at the sight; thick lips pulled back showcasing a row of sharp, shiny teeth.

"Y'all look really funny!" Luffy laughed. Whilst they were trying to blink away the image of dragon laughing from their minds, the glow reappeared around her body again; when it vanished Luffy was standing there back to normal, with her straw hat around her neck and her mouth turned up into a big grin.

* * *

After a few hours of messing about and fun, Luffy showed both commanders her art journal.

Kiyoshi whistled in appreciation. "Wow, princess! You've gotten better at drawing!"

Luffy blushed whilst Keita snatched the book of the other Commander. "Hey isn't this the journal I gifted you?"

The girl nodded as Keita skimmed through the pages and stopped on one of an old man: his eyes were dark and his hand was clenched into a fist. The angry, old man was wearing a scary grin; not at all grandfatherly. "Is that your Grandpa? Why does he look so frightening?" The brunet asked, as Kiyoshi stared at the drawing over his shoulder.

Luffy grimaced. "That's how the stupid old man always looks before he gives a fist of love. They actually hurt a lot!"

"A fist of love?" Kiyoshi echoed, blue eyes glimmering with confusion. Who on earth would name a punch after love?

The small girl nodded, scowling as she rubbed her head. "Yeah, that's what Gramps named it! He uses his fists of love to try and get rid of my dream of becoming the Pirate King! The old man thinks I'm gonna become a marine!" She shook her head furiously, oblivious to both commanders murderous expressions as she rambled on, "The old man probably thinks that I'll just go up to him and tell him one day that I wanna become Fleet Admiral or something, can you believe it? That's just dumb! I'm gonna become the Pirate King!"

A few feet opposite them, Makino looked up from her book and eyed the commanders homicidal expressions. Letting out a soft sigh, the bar owner hurriedly went over to the trio and interrupted the girl's ramblings. "I think it's time for dinner. I'll start serving. Luffy, can you put your book away for now?"

Whilst Luffy skipped off, both commanders nodded to each other. "Next time we see that old fool," Kiyoshi started, scowling furiously.

"We're going to gut him like a fish," The brunet finished.

Behind the counter, Makino rolled her eyes. She could stop Luffy from doing stupid things but these two? They were grown men, and as long as they didn't give Luffy any bad ideas, well, she'd ignore their suicidal mission.

* * *

The sun had just set, and the commanders were planning to leave soon. Right now they were in Party's Bar, and Keita was fishing around in the bag around his shoulder. He pulled out a wrapped parcel with a whoop and handed it to the bemused Luffy. Commander chuckled, ruffling her hair. "This is for you, Princess!" He exclaimed cheerily. "It's a gift from all the Commanders and Dragon-san."

Luffy looked at it in awe, before carefully unwrapping her gift. Underneath the gift wrap was an A4 sized photo album, leather bound, with a small, engraved gold plate that read ' _Luffy's Album'._

The young girl gently opened the front and her mouth slacked in surprise. The first page was varied pictures of a baby girl, Luffy's Mama and Papa and the commanders. Luffy looked up at Keita and Kiyoshi and asked, "Is the baby me?"

When Luffy got twin nods as a reply, she looked back down at the album. Picture Luffy gradually got older as she flipped through the pages.

However, Luffy was only focused on one person - her Mama. She smiled, blinking back unshed tears. "Mama's always happy."

"Of course she was. Lucy-san was happy the moment she had you," The long haired commander told her, and his partner nodded in agreement.

Luffy smiled, rubbing her eyes before she continued looking through the album. The photos suddenly finished, and the next fourty or so pages were blank. Luffy looked up at them, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Why are all these pages empty?" She asked.

Keita handed her a snail that he had grabbed from his bag while she was absorbed in her own world. "Because now you can take your own pictures. With this Den Den Mushi you can take photos," He explained, extended the new snail to the girl. "You won't be able to print them out in East Blue though, the equipment to do it exists only in the Grand Line."

Luffy took the snail, and held it gently. "That's awesome! Thank you!"

Kiyoshi smiled. "No problem, Lu! All of us pitched in and helped create it. Make sure you don't forget to feed either snail, princess!" The small girl nodded as Kiyoshi stood up and stretched his back, bones popping noisily. "We can't stay any longer, Lu. We have to head back to the base."

Luffy hugged one commander, then the other. "You will come again, right?" She inquired while peering up at them.

"Of course!" The brunet confirmed hurriedly. "The next commander whose mission is in East blue will definitely come visit, Princess!"

The girl gave a small grin, rubbing her eyes as both commanders picked up their bags together with the twin bentos Makino insisted on giving them and waved as they left the bar.

* * *

_\- A day later -_

* * *

Garp returned to Foosha only a day after the commanders left, missing them narrowly. His granddaughter had just finished breakfast and was looking through her photo album again, when she heard a very familiar laugh. Garp entered through the door like any other human being. The only reason preventing him from knocking it down was simply because the bar owner refused to serve him if he damaged her property. "Bwahaha!" The Marine hero greeted everyone with his loud laughter as he entered the bar. "Monkey D. Luffia, come! Let's go!"

Said young girl raised her head from the photo album to glare at him. "Go? I don't wanna go anywhere with you, Jii-chan! You always make me beat up those annoying monkeys!"

"It's training, you have to be strong in order to become a great marine!" The old man ignored how his granddaughter's eyebrow twitched and peered over her shoulder. "What's that book in front of you? Huh? Is that my idiot son?"

Luffy growled, "Your idiot son is my awesome dad! He could beat your ass any day of the week, you grumpy old man!"

"You rude little brat," Garp huffed, giving her a soft punch on the head. "I could beat my son in any fight."

The straw hatted girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." Her mind suddenly blinked bright with an idea, and she grinned. "Jii-chan, step back a little and smile."

Garp frowned at the random order but complied. Luffy grabbed her snail camera and hit a button, there was a flash and then Luffy giggled. "Yosh! All done!"

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Yep! For my album!"

Garp shook his head. "Whatever, let's go!"

"Do I really have to?"

Hearing all the ruckus, Makino appeared from the back, watching unamused how Garp dragged Luffy away.

"Makino look after my stuff!" The girl shouted to her. "I dunno how long the crazy old man is taking me for this time, so please feed my snails!"

* * *

Garp led Luffy to the forest and placed her in front of two gorillas. "Defeat them!" He ordered as he sat down on a broken log.

"Seriously? I've beaten them sooo many times before!" Luffy pouted. "Why do I have to do it again?!"

"Just defeat them."

Luffy glanced at the stupid gorillas, sighed then raised her hands. "Come get me!"

The gorillas roared and then charged straight towards her. One of them aimed a punch at Luffy, which she nimbly dodged, at the same time slipping into her half-dragon form. Blue scales scattered around her body, and her eyes turned from her shining grey eyes to her icy dragon eyes. Resting on head were two spiked horns pointing back. Huge bat like wings flapped on her back, whilst a long tail wagged behind her.

Fingers-turned-claws swept at one of the gorillas, leaving four deep bleeding slashes across its chest. It roared in pain and fury, but before it could go crazy Luffy kicked the back of its neck making it fall unconscious.

The second gorilla roared loudly in protective anger and charged at the girl in blind rage. Luffy's wings spread out and she flew above it's range. She easily maneuvered in mid-air and darted behind the angry beast, punching hard to its head.

Luffy landed gracefully back on the ground and looked at her Grandpa as the second gorilla dropped down with a thud next to her feet. "You happy now, Jii-chan?" She asked, clearly annoyed by the whole ordeal.

Garp growled and then picked Luffy up. "Oi! Don't talk to me with that tone."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

After bantering about why Garp wasn't taking her back to Foosha Village but instead deeper into the forest up the mountain, the old man shut her complaints up with a fist of love. He dragged Luffy to a rutty looking hut and knocked on the door. Once the door opened, it revealed an overweight orange haired woman screaming expletives. The straw hatted girl ignored the loud stranger and started exploring. Her adventures didn't go too far as she was grabbed by Garp again and held up like a wild animal, which ironically she was.

"Luffy, these bandits are your new caretakers," Garp introduced the newcomers. "Dadan, this is my granddaughter, take good care of her."

"What? Bandits?! No, no, no! Jii-chan, you can't do this!"

"I will and I can," Garp replied menacingly. "You're going to become a strong marine!"

As Luffy wondered what kind of dumb logic made bandits equal respectable marines, Dadan exploded. Whilst her grandfather was busy threatening her into babysitting, Luffy carried on exploring until something watery landed on her cheek. "What's this? Spit? Gross!" Luffy looked up and saw a boy a few years older than herself, sitting on top of a dead animal and glaring down at her. "Oi! What the hell? That's disgusting! Did no one ever teach you manners?!"

The boy tched in response and ignored her but Luffy carried on, "Come down here and I'll kick your ass!"

The boy rolled his eyes. Luffy scowled at the obvious mocking gesture. "Apologize!" She demanded. When the brat just smirked at her smugly, she gritted her teeth, transformed into her half-form, and shot towards him.

The boy's eyes widened at the sudden change of the girl's appearance. He didn't even have a chance to lift his hand with a pipe for the defence, when she was already in front of him, her icy blue eyes with slit pupils glaring daggers at him and her arm drawn back for an attack.

Just as Luffy threw her fist for a well deserved punch to that stupid freckled face, Garp grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and smacked her over the head. "Now, now, Luffy. You're gonna be living here, be nice," He chided before turning to the boy. "Ace, this is your new friend, Luffy. Keep an eye out on her!"

Luffy now glared at her Grandpa. "Jii-chan, you didn't tell me any of this!" She complained angrily. "I was perfectly fine living with Makino! Why do I have to live with this antisocial brat?!"

Garp grinned, ignoring her grumbles. "Dadan, she's a devil fruit user! Don't let her drown!" The marine ordered before heading back into the forest.

Luffy pouted, letting her draconic features go away. She glanced up at the gobsmacked boy, and his face instantly regained its previous apathy. "You should really learn not to spit on people, it's disgusting y'know." She stuck her tongue out at his glaring expression. "Though if you were raised by these bandits maybe it's a lost cause," Luffy commented dismissively, spinning on her heel and making her way into the house. "Stupid old man," she muttered as she entered and looked around. "So this is where I have to live?" Luffy looked up at Dadan. "Dadan, I'm hungry! Gimme food!"

The redhead snorted, her previous shock fanning into irritation. "Nah-ah! That Ace-brat brings us food, so that's why he's allowed to eat with us. You are only allowed a plate of rice. After you've eaten, start cleaning the clothes, then scrub the kitchen and make sure the bath's clean." Dadan smirked, thinking the waterworks were about to start.

The bandit didn't know how she was wrong was. "Oh? I have to get my own food? That's not too hard," Luffy said with a proud grin as she fixed her straw hat to sit more firmly on her head. "And just to let you know - I will not be doing your cleaning, you can do that yourself, stupid Dadan!" She exclaimed before turning to leave the hut again.

Luffy glared at the rude brat when they passed each other at the doorway, and got an equally irritated glare in return. Then they both turned their heads away with identical scoffs.

* * *

Luffy returned to the hut an hour later, and politely knocked on the door. It opened revealing Dadan already shouting, "What you came bac- Holy shit!"

The girl laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, but I don't know how to cook. I burnt the other one, and it tasted disgusting," She said, pointing at the dead boar behind her. "You said something about that Ace boy catching animals and you cooking them, right? Mind cooking this one? I'm hungry!"

Dadan stared.

When there was no response, Luffy scowled. "What happened to you?" She poked the woman in her leg. "You dead?"

That seemed to do the trick, as Dadan glared at Luffy, and then headed back inside. "Mogra, start cooking this one!"

"Yay!" Luffy cheered and ran in with the boar in tow.


End file.
